INQUIRER PHOTO/ August dela Cruz
MANILA, Philippines—Showing flashes of the form that made him a two-time MVP, Danny Ildefonso drilled a long corner jumper as Petron Blaze nipped Talk ‘N Text, 91-89, and leveled their best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series Saturday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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ldefonso’s looper with 20.5 seconds remaining preserved the outstanding efforts of Alex Cabagnot and Joseph Yeo, who finished with a combined 41 points, most of them in the second half.
“Team effort did it. Although there were lapses, we never strayed out of focus,” said Petron coach Ato Agustin, who used a seven-man rotation throughout.
Cabagnot pumped in 12 of his 24 points while Yeo poured in the bulk of his 17 markers in the last two quarters for the Boosters, who led by as many as 16 before the Texters closed the gap in the closing minutes.
Arwind Santos, Petron’s double-double machine, played true to form with 11 points and 13 rebounds while Ildefonso had 12 and 10 boards.
Talk ‘N Text went 0 of 8 in the opening minutes of the fourth before Japeth Aguilar’s two-handed followup slam off a Larry Fonacier miss re-energized a TNT squad that was lifeless for more than five minutes.
The uprising, however, was short-lived.
Yeo buried a three-pointer from the right flank and then Arwind Santos found him free underneath for an 80-67 advantage.
Missed free throws and three-point shots plus errors hounded the Texters after they closed in to 84-89 with 36 seconds left.
Then Ildefonso launched the jumper from the corner that finally doomed the Texters.
“After Game 1, I told them that we need to play better to win Game 2 and we didn’t,” said Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes.
“They have more second chance turnover points and those two are very good indicators of effort. Unfortunately, they wanted it more and they came off with the victory,” added Reyes.
Jimmy Alapag had 17 points, Jayson Castro had double-double efforts of 15 points and 11 rebounds as well as Kelly Williams (13 points, 12 boards) but the Texters shot just 37.2 percent, sinking 29 of 78 attempts.
Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Chito Salud has summoned Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao to his office tomorrow in the wake of Guiao’s tirade against officiating in Game 2 of their semifinal series with Powerade Friday night.
“Coach Guiao’s conduct during and after the game is unacceptable behavior, most especially for a head coach and will be taken with sanction,” said Salud.
“I reviewed last night’s game play by play with my technical committee and referees concerned and there is actually no ground for coach Yeng to say what he said last night.”
Guiao blamed officiating after Powerade blasted Rain or Shine, 121-113, to even their own semifinal series.
The Tigers and the Elasto Painters break their tie Sunday at 6 p.m.
The scores:
PETRON 91—Cabagnot 24, Yeo 17, Ildefonso 12, Santos 11, Lutz 10, Miranda 7, Reyes 6, Tugade 4, Doruelo 0, Baclao 0.
TALK ‘N TEXT 89—Alapag 17, Aguilar 15, Castro 15, Williams 13, Fonacier 12, De Ocampo 9, Peek 6, Reyes 2, Gamalinda 0, Dillinger 0, Carey 0.
Quarters: 26-18, 41-41, 66-57, 91-89