BARAKO BULL HAS ONE FOOT IN QUARTERFINALS

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TRUST the veterans to step up at winning time.

Chico Lanete typified this by hitting a pair of crucial shots and helping lift Barako Bull to a 91-85 upset of NLEXTuesday and virtually into the quarterfinals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Solomon Alabi notched 29 points and 15 rebounds, but it was Lanete who stood tallest for the Energy with his shots that snapped them out of their four-game funk and ultimately over the erstwhile-streaking Road Warriors.

In all, the win was only Barako Bull’s fifth in 11 games which the Energy are hoping will be good enough for a quarterfinals berth at the end of the eliminations Wednesday, depending on the result of the GlobalPort-San Miguel Beer second game later in the evening and the Barangay Ginebra-Alaska match-up the following day.

“Desire is the starting point of every achievement and I am glad everybody stepped up,” said Energy coach Koy Banal, whose team finished ninth in the Philippine Cup, their first tournament together.

The loss, its fifth against six wins, hardly mattered for NLEX as its recent five-game streak has assured it of a spot in the best-of-three quarterfinals duel against Meralco which begins Friday.

Thornton finished with 24 points and nine rebounds and the Road Warriors even came charging back from 51-64 down to erect an 85-79 spread.

NLEX had no answer to Barako Bull’s decisive counter, however.

For Banal, another big key was Sol Mercado, who finished with 12 points and nine assists while assuming chief responsibility in guarding Thornton, who went into the game averaging 32.2 points per game.

“i love what Sol has done to Al,” said Banal. “It came from him. It’s having the intention, having that initiative to grow. Sol having the experience, he came in ready. It came from him, the idea to guard Al Thornton.”

Despite his output Thornton did struggle some as he made just seven of 23 field goal attempts.

On the offensive end and in the most crucial of times it was Lanete who shone the brightest as he laced his 13-point performance with two straight three-pointers, the first giving them the upper hand and the second making it an 89-85 count, 1:28 to go.

Before those treys, Barako Bull flubbed its first 10 tries from beyond the arc, the last miss from Lanete himself.

“Chico is a veteran. You can rely on him down the stretch,” noted Banal.

Paolo Hubalde also rose to the occasion by translating a Thornton miss into a 12-foot baseline jumper that stretched the lead to six and the difference held when both KG Canaleta and Thornton missed their respective triple tries inside the last 29 seconds of play.

For a while, it looked as if NLEX’s guards would outplay their Barako Bull counterparts as Macmac Cardona and Rudy Lingganay joined Thornton in a blistering third quarter surge that gave NLEX a 75-72 edge going to the final canto.

Cardona scored six straight points to spark the Road Warriors’ rise from their 13-point deficit before Lingganay added seven, including a triple to end the quarter.

Thornton’s charities, Aldrech Ramos’ followup and Cardona’s runner pushed NLEX’s lead up to 85-79, but Alabi had his own putback and Carlo Lastimosa a baseline runner to bring Barako Bull to within 83-85, still 4:33 to go. (NC)

The scores:

BARAKO BULL 91 – Alabi 29, Lanete 13, Mercado 12, Intal 10, Pascual 10, Garcia 7, Hubalde 6, Lastimosa 2, Marcelo 2, Matias 0, Salvador 0, Salva 0.

NLEX 85 – Thornton 24, Cardona 15, Ramos 9, Taulava 9, Canaleta 8, Lingganay 7, Villanueva J. 5, Villanueva E. 4, Borboran 2, Baloria 2, Camson 0, Arboleda H. 0., Arboleda W. 0.

Quarterscores: 26-23, 51-49, 72-75, 91-85

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