Andy Fields with an emphatic slam! (photo grab from Pinoy Extreme)
It seems the fans cannot get enough of the PBA’s ultimate rivalry so here is another piece on the third offering of Pinoy Extreme. This time, the Toyota Super Corollas emerge victorious in a game that had a taste of everything – intense action, high scoring, a fight and an extra five minutes to settle the score!
QUEZON CITY – A depleted Toyota Super Corollas leaned on the hot performance of Arnie Tuadles to subdue the Crispa Redmanizers in overtime, 129-119, in continuing action from the 1982 Philippine Basketball Association Open Conference Tuesday night (October 12) at the Araneta Coliseum.
Ramon Fernandez and Danny Florencio both picked up their sixth personal foul and Francis Arnaiz and Abe King got ejected for fighting with Bernie Fabiosa and Rudy Distrito. In addition, Robert Jaworski continued to miss action due to injury. Tuadles unloaded six points in the overtime as he combined with Andy Fields to give Toyota a 121-115 edge entering the last two minutes.
The Toyota defense then held the Redmanizers sans a field goal, their woes further compounded by poor free throw shooting down the stretch. Tuadles then iced the game with two more field goals for an unassailable 126-117 cushion. A triple at the buzzer by Tim Coloso settled the final tally.
Regulation play ended at 111-111. Donnie Ray Koonce placed Toyota on top with two free throws at the 1:04 mark. Bay Cristobal then tied the count with a charity split. The Super Corollas then threw the ball away to give the Redmanizers a chance. Sadly, Mike Gibson issued a bad pass to Cristobal that went nowhere and 1.7 ticks to play. Koonce missed a desperation triple at the buzzer to set the stage for the extra five minutes.
Coach Ed Ocampo maps out the crucial play. (photo grab from Pinoy Extreme)
Both rivals battled through 15 deadlocks and four lead changes in the first half. Fabiosa tied the game at 35-35 from the free throw line before Toyota went to Tuadles and King to erect their biggest lead of the game, 59-47, and held on by halftime, 61-51.
Crispa though refused to fold and slowly ate into Toyota’s lead. Gibson matched his first quarter output with another 14 markers in the third canto and Cristobal added six points to close in after three, 83-89.
After a so-so game, big Lew Brown finally woke up and combined with Abet Guidaben and Philip Cezar to sustain the Redmanizers’ rally, capped by a Brown baseball pass to the streaking Fabiosa to seize back the drivers’ seat, 100-99. Nine more lead changes and three deadlocks would follow in the tense and exciting windup.
The game hit boiling point with 1:32 left in regulation when Arnaiz and Fabiosa exchanged blows in front of the Crispa bench. King rushed to aid his teammate while Distrito, who had yet to be fielded by Coach Baby Dalupan, entered the court to join the fray. All four were promptly ejected.
Koonce topped the Super Corollas with 32 points followed by Fields and Tuadles with 24 each. Gibson powered Crispa with a game-high 39 points followed by Cezar with 21.
How They Scored:
TOYOTA (129) – Koonce 32, Fields 24, Tuadles 24, Fernandez 18, King 13, Arnaiz 9, Florencio 4, Coloso 3, Relosa 2, Herrera 0.
CRISPA (119) – Gibson 39, Cezar 21, Fabiosa 13, Guidaben 10, Brown 10, Carpio 9, Cristobal 7, Co 6, Israel 2, Hubalde 0, Cruz 0, Villamin 0.
Quarter Scores: 28-26, 61-51, 89-83, 111-111 (reg.), 129-119 (OT).
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