What the Hotdogs couldn’t do right against the Tigers last Sunday they did with consummate ease against the RP candidate team, giving acting Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio and his boys the solo lead on their fourth win against a lone defeat.
Red Bull and the Hapee Philippine Team seek to regain a share of the lead with Purefoods as they clash in the 6 p.m. mainer of a double header at the Cuneta Astrodome today. Coca-Cola and Barangay Ginebra, coming off stirring victories over Purefoods and Shell, respectively, collide in the other game at 3:45.
Derrick Brown and Leonard White buckled down to work early and the Hotdogs quickly cut loose in the game, pulling off a rout which served as a grand homecoming for Kerby Raymundo in his native province.
Raymundo, from the nearby Orani town, had his moments in the game although Brown and White proved to be Purefoods’ backbone with the hardworking import tandem combining for over half of the team’s output.
The national hopefuls just couldn’t stop Brown and White as they fell in the tailend of the standings with a 1-4 slate.
Jimmy Alapag, the much-talked-about Fil-Am pointguard, finally saw action for the RP Selecta but hardly made an impact as he injured his right hand right in the first quarter and sat out the rest of the way.
Starting with Asi Taulava, Dennis Espino, Kenneth Duremdes and Rafi Reavies, Alapag committed two errors, missed one field-goal attempt and three charities before putting his name in the scoring column with a free throw seven minutes into the game.
The Hotdogs, on the other hand, were all business, beginning the game with a 10-2 run before ending the first quarter at 26-15 then sitting on huge double-digit cushions all the way to the finish.
After trailing by 18, 33-51, at halftime, the national hopefuls narrowed the gap at 54-67 on an 8-0 closing run by Poch Juinio, Patrick Fran and Chris Calaguio in the third quarter.
But Ronnie Magsanoc fired back-to-back booming triples at the outset of the final period and the Hotdogs put the game away from the national hopefuls for good.
White and Brown took turns in bombarding the national hopefuls with a barrage of baskets, combining for all but 16 of their first-half output. Brown fired 25 points and White rifled in 12.