Surging Chargers defuse Hotdogs

Shell held off Purefoods’ fourth-quarter charge on pressure defense and pulled off an 86-79 victory at the start of their Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Cup best-of-three quarterfinals showdown at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Reeling from the heat of the Hotdogs’ fiery chase, the Turbochargers worked on a resolute defense at endgame that netted four crucial Purefoods turnovers and eventually the win that sent them to the threshold of the Final Four.

The Hotdogs had trimmed a 14-point third-quarter deficit to three at 79-82 when they ran into Shell’s defensive wall, going scoreless in the last two minutes of play.

Marcus Melvin, who scored a game-high 29 points, including 13 in the payoff period, accounted for three of the Hotdogs four critical errors at the finish.

"We knew they would go to Melvin in the end. So, at first, we attacked him to tire him out. Towards the end, we doubled on him," said Shell coach Leo Austria. "Eh hindi pala marunong mag-dish off. Iyun nadisgrasya sila."

Melvin committed three straight passing errors while facing double-teaming defense. Shell converted on Melvin’s third and final turnover to stretch its lead to 84-79 with time down to 36.2 seconds.

Coming off a timeout, Purefoods committed yet another error with Noy Castillo losing ball possession to Roger Yap who dashed to the other court for an unmolested lay-up and the final score.

Alaska Milk also needed to withstand a late charge by Red Bull in scoring an 89-80 win in Game One of their own best-of-three quarterfinals duel.

"They’re hard to keep down because they won’t just quit. You relax a little, and you’ll see them coming back and coming back," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

With the win, Shell has two chances to arrange a semifinal duel with Talk n Text in Game Two today at the Ynares Center or in Game Three, if necessary, tomorrow at the Araneta Coliseum.

Austria said their ploy in Game One worked very well.

"Our idea was to limit Melvin, James Yap and Noy Castillo below their average outputs because we knew majority of Purefoods’ production came from them. We’re able to do that," said Austria.

Melvin, Yap and Castillo all scored at least four points below their usual norms.

The Turbochargers worked hard together on defense and drew significant numbers from Ajani Williams, Tony dela Cruz, Rich Alvarez and Billy Mamaril offensively.

Williams paced the Turbochargers with 27 points and 20 rebounds.

"Ajani is determined to win this quarterfinals matchup for us. Ayaw pa raw niyang umalis sa Pilipinas," said Austria.

PBA NOTES: Mark Caguioa has surged to the top in the race for the season’s MVP honors with teammate Eric Menk indefinitely suspended in the league. By the end of the Fiesta Cup classification round, Caguioa was already in the lead with 1882 statistical points followed by Menk with 1824 then Talk n Text’s Willie Miller with 1764. However, Miller, the 2003 MVP winner, is expected to zoom ahead in the semifinals with Caguioa and his Barangay Ginebra team already in the sidelines. Miller’s closest pursuer is teammate Jimmy Alapag with 1577. Miller also paces the field in the fight for the Best Player of the Conference honors. Miller has 1276 SPs, followed by Nic Belasco with 1247, Dondon Hontiveros with 1239, Jeffrey Cariaso with 1200 and Danny Seigle with 1176.