Isip, Santos step up as Viva rolls to win No. 2

Viva-FEU leaned on the explosive efforts by Mark Isip and Arwind Santos as it outlasted Blustar Detergent, 83-76, yesterday to roll to its second straight victory in the second PBL Unity Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Isip got the Water Force into groove by erupting for 11 of his 23 points in the first quarter and then sizzled with eight more in the third period to give his team a 10-point cushion going into the final canto.

Santos finished the job by torching the Detergent Kings with nine of his 19 markers in the fourth period including a triple and a jumper in the last minute that was enough to seal the win.

"Just what I keep on saying, we have a lot of go-to-guys and Arwind and Mark are just two of them," said Viva coach Koy Banal. "And it was just the turn of Arwind and Mark to step up in this game."

The backcourt duo of Dennis Miranda and Warren Ybanez turned in another solid effort as the two combined for 22 points, 15 assists, five steals and the same number of rebounds.

Viva’s top rookie Neil Raneses also gave some flashes of brilliance by chipping in 10 markers on five-of-eight shooting clip in just 14 minutes he was on the court. It was a big improvement from his three-point output on his debut against Toyota Otis-Letran last Sunday.

And Raneses, a 6-foot-4 forward out of Cebu champion University of Visayas, kept on impressing Banal.

"He’s just improving every game and I’m happy that he is starting to blend with the team," said Banal, who steered the Water Force to a runner-up finish to defending champion Hapee Toothpaste last year.

In the other game, Welcoat Paints survived a late scare from Toyota Otis-Letran to carve out a 76-69 win that put it on top alongside Viva on 2-0 slates.

It was the Knights’ second straight defeat. — Joey Villar