Compton, Vergara key Jewels run vs Wizards

Alex Compton and Al Vergara took turns in a pair of huge runs in the middle quarters as Montaña Pawnshop clobbered Magnolia Ice Cream, 64-55, yesterday to seize the solo lead in the 2005 PBL Unity Cup at the FEU Gym.

Compton unloaded a 12-point splurge in the second quarter to lead all scorers with 18 points while Vergara scattered nine of his 11 points in the third quarter in two dizzying runs that sealed the Jewels’ third straight win.

"This is huge win for us," said Montaña coach Robert Sison, who won for the first time against Koy Banal and the Wizards after being swept in two outings in the 2004 PBL Open Championship.

It was also a send-off gift for Clarence Aytona, who resigned recently as manager to concentrate on his business.

Magnolia absorbed its second loss in three outings.

Earlier, Mark Cardona buried a three-pointer with a tenth of a second remaining as Harbour Center edged Toyota Otis-Letran, 75-73, in a highly-physical contest that saw both teams commit a total of 55 fouls, including four technicals, two flagrant fouls and a disqualifying foul.

Cardona came away with 21 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter capped by that game-clinching triple.

"What can I say, Cardona is Cardona," said Harbour Center coach Tonichi Yturri.

Fouls came aplenty with 28 called on the Knights and 27 against the Port Masters that resulted to 28 free throws awarded to the former and 29 to the latter. Toyota made 16 foul shots while Harbour had only 12.

Cardona and Tenorio opened the game with a flagrant foul each early in the first quarter while teammates Jerwin Gaco and Rob Sanz followed suit with a hard foul on Ardy Larong midway in the third quarter that led to his ejection from technical.

Knights Mark Andaya, Richard Alonzo and Ronald Capati accounted for a technical foul apiece.

Tension also arose after the endgame buzzer sounded when Toyota team manager Ernesto Lim stormed into the court complaining a change of call late in the game. He was stopped by commissioner Chino Trinidad and co-manager Baby Oben before cooler heads prevailed.

Lim was reacting to a call made by referee Froilan Jimeno signaling for a Toyota possession. Renato Guevarra corrected the call and gave possession back to Harbour, seeing that a Knight touched the ball last after a Cardona miss.

Down 72-73 and with just 2.7 seconds to operate on, Tenorio saw collegiate rival Cardona open from behind the arc for the game clincher. After the shot, Cardona sprinted down court in jubilation.

The Knights’ second loss in three starts wasted an explosive effort from Dennis Daa, who erupted for a game-high 27 points he spiked with six rebounds and two assists. The former Las Pinas College standout highlighted his awesome game with a baseline jumper hat gave his team its last taste of the lead.