Montana freezes Ana, grabs solo lead

Montaña Pawnshop blew a 19-point first quarter lead before regrouping in time to edge Ana Freezers, 61-59, yesterday and seize solo leadership in the 2000 PBL Challenge Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Orly Torrente more than made up for an errant baseball pitch and two crucial misses from the foul line with a steal and a dish-off to teammate Jerald Ybañez, who scored the game-winner as time expired.
That gem of a play proved enough to catapult the Jewellers, one of the teams which finished last in the previous conference and languished in obscurity before the season to one of the teams to watch in the tourney.

The 6-foot- 4 Ybañez, who has journeyed from one team to the other before the Montaña franchise signed him midway this year, finished with 13 points, nine of them in the opening quarter where Montaña raced to a commanding 21-2 lead.

But that big lead vanished when the flashy Ronald Tubid spearheaded a spirited comeback that saw the Freezermakers snatching a 41-37 spread mid-way in the third quarter.

In the other game, newcomer La Salle -Osaka Iridology debuted with a 59-58 win over fancied Welcoat. — Joey Villar