BARAKO BULL SECURES QF SPOT
With two straight wins with new import Allen Durham, Barako Bull is suddenly safe in the Final Eight.
Durham and the Energy overwhelmed the Talk n Text Tropang Texters with a strong finish and carved out an 88-74 victory that guaranteed Barako Bull’s entry into the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup post-elims play at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night.
At 3-5, Barako Bull may actually still end up in a tie at eighth place with Meralco and GlobalPort or either one of them. But in whatever scenario, the Energy will make the quarterfinals with a superior quotient.
“It’s a good feeling (making the quarters) but we still have to keep working,” said Barako Bull coach Siot Tanquingcen.
Durham again made the big difference as the Energy stunned the Texters in a follow-up to an equally surprise win over the Barangay Ginebra Kings Sunday.
“I’ll be lying if I say hindi malaking bagay si Durham. Yung mga players namin naging kumpiyansa tumira dahil alam nila malakas kumuha ng rebound ang import namin,” said Tanquingcen.
“Not taking anything from Eric Wise. He’s a good player, but Durham is a better fit for us,” Tanquingcen added.
After a triple-double performance against Ginebra, Durham came out to put in a huge double-double with 29 rebounds and 28 points.
The Euro League veteran anchored Barako’s breakaway from a 68-all deadlock on the way to dealing Talk n Text a second loss in seven games.
The Tropang Texters dropped to joint first with the San Mig Coffee Mixers, now just half-game ahead of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (5-3) and the Barangay Ginebra Kings (4-2).
Durham asserted his dominance at the post the most in the payoff period, bulldozing his way to 11 markers.
Keith Jensen and Jeric Fortuna drilled in a triple each to help fuel a 15-6 tear giving the Energy an 83-74 lead with 1:51 left to play.
The Texters took the half at 45-38 and hung onto the lead until Denok Miranda buried a jumper pushing Barako Bull ahead, 62-61, at the start of the fourth.
The two teams figured in a nip-and-tuck battle for sometime before the Energy established the momentum for their runaway windup. (SB)
The scores:
BARAKO 88 – Durham 28, Jensen 17, Miller 15, Fortuna 11, Miranda 6, Wilson 4, Intal 3, Isip 2, Custodio 2, Thiele 0, Najorda 0, Lastimosa 0, Marcelo 0, Pennisi 0.
TALK N’ TEXT 74 – Harris 22, De Ocampo 21, Castro 18, Canaleta 3, Williams 2, Reyes 2, Baclao 2, Carey 2, Alapag 2, Reyes 0, Fonacier 0.
Quarterscores: 15-19, 38-45, 60-61, 88-74
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