Jewels sparkle sans Compton, rip Nenaco

Montaña Pawnshop drew big games from its reserve players as it smothered Negros Navigation-San Beda, 86-59, yesterday to extend its amazing run to six in the 2005 PBL Unity Cup at the Pasig Sports Center.

Without main man Alex Compton, the Jewels got the job done just the same as second stringers Chris Baluyot, Ken Bono and Bryan Tolentino stepped up to fire a combined output of 38 points and power the team to the victory.

Baluyot, in fact, even took the best player honors, finishing with 17 points on an awesome 7-of-11 shooting clip, while Bono filled the vacuum left by the injured Alwyn Espiritu and Al Magpayo.

"I have to give it to my bench players for stepping up," said Montaña coach Robert Sison.

But the Jewels had to thwart a spirited Nenaco run in the first half as the Red Lions, behind the prolific pair of Yousif Aljamal and Dom Javier, kept the game close at 32-38 after two quarters.

But the Jewels stamped their class at resumption of play, firing away baskets from the perimeter, on the break and down low with Jondan Salvador, the MVP in the last conference, scattering seven of his 11 points to spark the breakaway.

Aljamal led Nenaco with 19 points, including 11 in the first half. Javier, picked up two weeks back to reinforce the team, exploded with 16 points all in the first two quarters but was held scoreless the rest of the way.

"We made key defensive adjustments in the second half and I believe it helped," said Sison.

Another run in the final period, this time with Baluyot, Bono and Tolentino on the firing end, finally finished off the Navigators, who took their sixth straight setback.

Earlier, Magnolia Ice Cream-FEU leaned on a balanced attack as it ripped Bacchus Energy Drink, 97-75, to get back into the thick of things.

Arwind Santos fired 17 points in a game that saw all 15 players of Magnolia score at least two points as the Wizards roared to their third win against the same number of losses.

"We showed a lot of focus in this game," said Magnolia coach Koy Banal.