INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Burger King used a hot start and a steady finish to trounce Barako Bull, 102-86, Friday night and notch a second straight victory in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.

Starting off-guard Ronjay Buenafe scored 17 points and Carlo Sharma added 14 as the Whoppers rose to 3-5 in the standings while dealing the Energy Boosters a fourth straight loss for a 2-6 card.

?Defense and free throw shooting?we have improved on both departments the last two games,? said coach Yeng Guiao when asked about the key to the Burger King reawakening.

?We hope this is the right formula for us. We need to fine-tune the formula that is working for us right now because our next game is a tough game, against Talk ?N Text.?

Rookie power forward Rogemar Menor shared scoring honors with Paolo Hubalde for the Boosters with 17 apiece.

And even with three more players scoring 10 or more, their heroics weren?t enough to save Barako Bull from having the second longest losing streak in the tournament.

Only the cellar-dwelling Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who opened with six straight losses and are now at 1-7, have lost more games in a string than the Boosters.

Meanwhile, San Miguel shoots for a seventh straight win when the Beermen collide with the Coca-Cola Tigers in a road game presented by Phoenix Fuel at the Cebu Coliseum in Cebu.

A victory by the heavily favored Beermen in their 5 p.m. clash with the Tigers would establish the tournament?s longest winning streak. Alaska, which was playing Talk ?N Text at presstime, shares the record with San Miguel.

The Beermen have won all their games by twin-digit margins and by an average of more than 15 points. And this certainly doesn?t look good for the Tigers, who will come into the game smarting from back-to-back losses.

Burger King jumped out of the gates hard and established its will early, racing to several double-digit leads on the way to closing out the half with a 48-35 spread.

Hubalde scored 10 of his output in the third period for the Boosters, who managed to come within nine at the end of the third and to within 64-69 early in the fourth.

But the Whoppers steadied themselves just as quick with eight players scoring in the remainder of the fourth period, including a rare four-point play from Egay Billones which made it 82-68, with eight minutes left to play.

In a no-bearing game earlier, Smart Gilas trimmed the Painters, 96-89, with Mac Baracael firing 20 points and Japeth Aguilar adding 15.

The scores:
BURGER KING 102?Buenafe 17, Sharma 14, Billones 11, David 10, Lanete 9, Quinahan 9, Yee R. 9, Belga 7, Yee M. 6, Matias 5, Aban 3, Williams 2.

BARAKO BULL 86?Menor 17, Hubalde 17, Aljamal 14, Najorda 11, Crisano 10, Belano 7, Alonzo 4, Sta Maria 2, Dimaunahan 2, Lao 2, Fernandez 0, Membrere 0.
Quarters: 29-16, 48-35, 69-60, 102-86