SINGLETARY’S 41 POWERS BARAKO BULL TO SECOND STRAIGHT WIN
MIKE Singletary’s monster game was complemented by Barako Bull’s locals in the stretch, resulting in a 103-94 victory over Air21 Sunday in the PBA Governors Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Singletary scored 41 points and also had a game-high 12 rebounds, but the clutch plays by Keith Jensen and Eman Monfort down the stretch enabled the Energy to hold off the Express and pull through with their second straight win in three games.
“Big win for us,” said Barako Bull active consultant Rajko Toroman after his team joined idle Rain or Shine, Petron Blaze and Globalport in a second place logjam in the standings behind Talk ‘N Text (1-0) which was still playing San Mig Coffee in Sunday’s second game.
“This means a lot because we’re now in a good position to fight for the quarterfinals, which is our immediate target for this conference,” Toroman added.
The loss was Air21’s second in three games, dropping it in the company of idle Meralco at eighth and on the fringe since only the top eight teams advance to the next round.
Zach Graham scored 15 of his 34 points in the fourth period and Nino Canaleta’s triple capped the Express’ uprising from the depths of two 20-point deficits and brought them to within 92-94, still 3:56 left.
That was when Barako Bull’s two rookies rose to the occasion.
Jensen, main reliever to JC Intal as Graham stopper, nailed a 10-foot jumper and, after Graham’s charity split, fellow rookie Monfort buried a triple to give the Energy more separation 99-93.
Air21 scored only a charity the rest of the way and Singletary then provided the icing with four charities inside the last 76 seconds.
So frustrating was the loss that Express head coach Franz Pumaren also took exception to Toroman calling a full timeout after Graham’s final freebies made it a 103-94 count, only 25.6 seconds left.
“You don’t do that,” Pumaren was overheard as heatedly telling Toroman after the game.
For Toroman, it was a simple misunderstanding. “I called a timeout, thinking they would foul us,” related the Serbian national.
“In my 25 years of coaching I don’t want to insult another coach. I don’t know why they are angry by this,” he added. “There’s 25 seconds. If I were them, I’d foul and try to do a miracle. That’s my way of thinking.”
It shouldn’t have boiled down to that, if only Barako Bull had continued to do what it did so well in taking control of the first half and stretching its lead to 67-47 and 69-49.
“We played good basketball in the first half and before the second half I was telling them, ‘The game is not yet over,'” related Toroman.
“Air21 is a very good team and that Graham is very difficult to stop and we needed to work more.”
It was the Express’s own locals who put in the extra effort in the third period, with Mike Cortez drilling two triples and Mark Isip and Ogie Menor scoring four points each in helping trim the deficit to 71-83, going to the final quarter.
It was chiefly Graham who wrought most damage in the payoff canto, with Bonbon Custodio and Canaleta helping.
The showing was a far cry from the one Air21 put up in the first half as it found itself trailing by 47-65 due to a defense repeatedly shredded by Singletary with chief support coming from Ronjay Buenafe and Danny Seigle.
Buenafe, who went into game averaging just 5.0 points, already had 15 at the half while Seigle, usually good for 8.0, scattered 13 of his 18 in the second quarter that helped pull Barako Bull away.
First half support for Graham chiefly came from Carlo Sharma, who engaged Seigle in a second period shootout with all 12 of his points. (NC)
The scores:
Barako Bull 103 – Singletary 41, Buenafe 18, Seigle 18, Monfort 12, Cruz 8, Intal 4, Jensen 2, Marcelo 0, Bulawan 0, Weinstein 0, Macapagal 0, Pennisi 0, Pena 0.
Air21 94 – Graham 34, Canaleta 12, Sharma 12, Cortez 10, Isip 9, Custodio 6, Menor 5, Manuel 4, Omolon 2, Sena 0, Ritualo 0, Arboleda 0.
Quarterscores: 29-23, 65-47, 83-71, 103-94
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