Left open almost all game, Fernandez torched the Stars by burying eight of the 11 three-point attempts as he finished with 27 points, helping the Volunteers remain at the helm in a race for two semifinal slots in the north with a 6-2 win-loss slate.
Olongapo’s dreaded frontline combination of Jeffrey Flowers, Joel Dualan, Allen Glen Patrimonio and Robert Allen opted to pass out when defense clamped on them in the shaded area, enabling Fernandez to drain the long treys that took the fight out of Pampanga.
With playing coach Ato Agustin sitting it out because of injury, the Stars started the game flat before coming up with a slow but effective run that pushed them within three points of the Volunteers, 64-67, with less than two and a half minutes left in the third quarter.
But when Fernandez rediscovered his range from behind the three-point arc, all the Stars could do was watch in awe as the Volunteers’ top gunner fired triples one after triples, handing Pampanga, the 1998 national champion, its eighth setback against a win.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Sanders drilled in a triple with 18.7 seconds to go and the LBC Batangas Blades held the Osaka Pangasinan Waves to just five fourth quarter points to eke out a come-from-behind 89-86 triumph.
The Blades thus move up to second spot with a 4-3 record while the Waves, who blew a 21-point lead and a chance to tie the game when Chris Clay missed a triple in the dying seconds, dropped to third with a 4-4 card.