Realtors toy with Turbochargers

Marlou Aquino went a point short of finally hitting the 5,000-point plateau but he and his Sta. Lucia teammates mustered more than enough strength to rip Shell, 79-69, in the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup eliminations at the Philsports Arena last night.

The Realtors totally outclassed the Turbochargers that they settled the outcome early and, at endgame, had the luxury of putting a massive effort to achieve the personal milestone for Aquino -- to no avail.

Aquino, only a point shy of the mark with a little over seven minutes left to play, still missed becoming only the 47th player to join the 5,000-point club, going 0-for-3 in the homestretch.

"Last game pa namin alam kong malapit na ako sa 5,000th point. Lahat ng teammates ko tumulong para makuha ko na ngayon kaya lang hindi pa rin nakuha. Mas importante ang panalo, kaya lang siyempre malaki pa rin ang hinayang ko," said Aquino.

"Lahat ng plays sa kanya, kaya dumikit ang laban," said Sta. Lucia coach Alfrancis Chua.

Aquino had a good look at the basket in the dying seconds but his baseline jumper was blocked by Ronald Tubid, keeping the player with a career output of 4,999. He made 14 points.

Kenneth Duremdes, who entered in the league a year ahead of Aquino in 1995, fired a game-high 29 points and moved 20 points short of the same milestone.

Duremdes, Aquino and Dennis Espino all put in big numbers as they powered the Realtors to a fourth win in eight games while dealing the Turbochargers their seventh loss against a lone win.

The Realtors made a concerted effort to nail the mark for Aquino with Chua, despite the team being ahead by 11 points, calling three timeouts inside the last 47 seconds.

The Realtors enjoyed a 41-35 lead at the half although they squandered an early 11-point spread as they relaxed a bit midway through the second period.

Kerby Raymundo nailed a long jumper from the left side, then swatted away a shot by Noli Locsin inside the last five seconds as Purefoods scored its first back-to-back wins in the season with an 85-83 decision over Talk N Text in the nigthcap.