Jarmaine Walker and Frantz Pierre-Louis dished out sterling performances, complementing each other so well to lead the Express to their first victory in the mid-season tournament.
San Miguel Beer likewise notched its first win in the conference with an 85-73 drubbing of the erstwhile unbeaten Coca-Cola in the second game.
Art Long redeemed himself from his poor game last Sunday while Shea Seals made a decent debut, giving the Beermen a big lift as they checked a two-game losing skein.
Long, who ended up with a fat zero in his first game as a San Miguel import versus RP Selecta Sunday, showed his true worth, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and the same number of blocks against the Tigers. Seals had 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.
The Beermen also drew huge numbers from Dorian Peña and Dwight Lago as they dealt the Tigers their first loss in three starts.
FedEx snapped a four-game slump dating back to the first conference – the team’s maiden tourney in the league where it finished sixth behind Purefoods, Alaska, Coca-Cola, San Miguel and Talk N Text.
Walker shook off a listless start and erupted for 29 of his game-high 35 points in the second half while Pierre-Louis played steadily throughout, coming away with 29 points and 17 rebounds.
Johnny Jackson, Shell’s new import vice Askia Jones, tallied huge numbers with 21 points and 19 rebounds but hastened the Turbo Chargers’ continued skid as he went into foul-trouble situation early, needing to sit out significant minutes in the second half.
Despite his decent stats, Jackson hardly made a difference for Shell which suffered its 11th loss in its last 12 games this season.
With Jackson on the bench, Walker made a show at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring FedEx’s first 11 points in the period. The flamboyant import began the class act with a thunderous jam and capped it with a booming triple – the fifth of six he made in the night.
Actually, the Express got away with a 16-6 run bridging the last two quarters as they pulled away from a close 60-57 count.
Though shooting much better from the field, FedEx just took a 39-38 edge at the half with Yancy de Ocampo beating the buzzer with a trey.