MANILA, Philippines – Powerade turned on the switch in the second half and bludgeoned Shopinas.com, 102-84, Friday in the 2011 PBA Philippine Cup.
The Tigers, hanging on by the skin of their teeth in the race for the quarterfinals, zoomed to a commanding advantage in the third quarter on Marcio Lassiter and Doug Kramer’s lead.
Lassiter, putting on across-the-board digits, poured one-third of his total 21 points in the third quarter as he also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists.
Kramer added 17 points and 10 rebounds for Powerade (4-7), which is ahead only by a slim margin over Alaska (3-8) in the standings, survived a rugged and physical game versus Shopinas which a couple of technical fouls slapped on both sides.
And Coach Bo Perasol is hoping the energy and momentum they got off this victory would carry on to the crucial remaining three games in the eliminations.
“We still believe we can make it. We just hope we can get the confidence we got in this game and hopefully we can win close games,” said Perasol.
The Clickers, meanwhile, bowed out of the bid for quarterfinals spot as they remained winless after 12 starts.
Despite active changes in the roster, Shopinas.com is still unable to create an effective and dominant rotation of players.
James Sena, struggling with foul trouble, finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Elmer Espiritu, Pong Escobal and Paolo Hubalde added 12 points a piece.
The scores:
POWERADE 102 – Lassiter 21, Kramer 17, David 16, Cruz 9, Antonio 9, Adducul 8, Casio 6, Crisano 6, Anthony 5, Vanlandingham 3, Lingganay 2, Martinez 0, Allera 0.
SHOPINAS .COM 84 – Sena 19, Espiritu 12, Escobal 12, Hubalde 12, Sison 7, Menor 5, Duncil 4, Daa 4, Ritualo 4, Jazul 2, Se 2, Canta 1, Bagatsing 0, Aquino 0.
Quarterscores: 28-28, 50-43, 84-64,102-84