LAMIZANA-LED AIR21 EXPRESS PLAY SPOILER’S ROLE
Herve Lamizana looked like he was on his way back home to where he came from after a paltry first 24 minutes of action.
Scoring just two points and just grabbing four rebounds in 21 minutes in the first half, the stud from Ivory Coast got a tongue-lashing from his coach during the halftime break.
Apparently, it was all he needed.
The Rutgers University product lit up the scoreboard in the second half to power Air21 Express to an 83-78 win over GlobalPort to open the Express’ campaign in the 2014 PLDT HOME TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup on a high note Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Lamizana finished with 22 points, 16 in the third quarter, to go with 10 rebounds, and five blocks, as the Express did the biggest damage and survived GlobalPort in the second half, thus spoiling the head coaching debut of new Batang Pier head coach Pido Jarencio.
“It was a good thing that during the second half, our import already stepped up his game. I was hard on him during halftime and made him realize that this is an import-laden conference and imports should take over,” said Air21 head coach Franz Pumaren. “The locals were there during the first half even though our import wasn’t playing really well.”
Joseph Yeo had 17 of his 21 points in the first half to steady the ship for the Express, while Asi Taulava had 14 in the win.
Taulava also accomplished a milestone when he overtook Ali Peek at eighth in the career rebounding list, as he hauled his 5,168th board of his career late in the second quarter.
“Right now my main concern is the conditioning of our import. We were pacing him because I don’t think he’s really in tip-top shape, but he’s getting there,” Pumaren said. “I guess down the stretch, we were able to top them.”
For his part, Lamizana said, “I told them at the half that I’m going to help this team win, and that’s what I did.”
Air21 gutted out the win despite being outrebounded badly by GlobalPort, 68-50.
Aside from Jarencio’s head coaching debut in the pros, the loss also spoiled Alex Cabagnot first game with his new team after he was acquired by the Batang Pier from San Miguel Beer, formerly Petron Blaze,prior to the conference in exchange for Sol Mercado..
Cabagnot only had four points in his first game for the Batang Pier, but also made history as he recorded his 2,000th assist when he helped Bonbon Custodio finish a fastbreak in the 4:12 mark of the second quarter, becoming the 25th member of the league’s 2,000-assists club and only the third among active players after Talk ‘N Text’s Jimmy Alapag and Barako Bull’s Willie Miller.
Import Evan Brock finished the game with 28 points and 26 rebounds, but was unable to pull the win for the Batang Pier even as rookie Justin Chua added 10 markers.
Brock’s 26 rebounds equalled the season-high which Taulava recorded in the previous conference last Jan. 4 when the Express lost to Meralco in OT 92-88. (RL)
The scores:
AIR21 83 – Lamizana 22, Yeo 21, Taulava 14, Cardona 11, Borboran 6, Villanueva 4, Burtscher 2, Sharma 2, Atkins 1, Jaime 0, Poligrates 0, Matias 0, Camson 0, Manuel 0.
GLOBALPORT 78 – Brock 28, Chua 10, Washington 9, Macapagal 8, Custodio 8, Cabagnot 4, Garcia 4, Romeo 3, Yee 2, Salva 2, Nabong 0, Ponferrada 0, Salvador 0.
Quarterscores: 22-14, 40-45, 66-56, 83-78.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
