Air21 strikes back; Pals win

What a difference a day makes.

Less than 24 hours after dropping a sorry loss on an endgame fold-up, Air21 played steady throughout last night, getting back at Talk n Text, 90-87, to force a one-game deadlock in their San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta Cup best-of-five quarterfinals showdown at the Araneta Coliseum.

Though playing a fourth game in the last five games, the Express mustered tremendous strength and courage to avenge a 109-111 defeat Saturday night, thus reducing to a best-of-three affair their battle for the right to challenge the Purefoods Chunkee Giants in the Final Four.

The Express, dragged into a deciding Game Three by the San Miguel Beermen in their wildcard playoff earlier, get a welcome two-day rest before slugging it out again with the Phone Pals for the pivotal 2-1 lead in the series Wednesday at the Astrodome.

"My brainstorming with my coaching staff and our team manager, Mr. Lito Alvarez, helped a lot as we got the winning formula for this game," said Air21 coach Bo Perasol.

"It’s all about adjustments. We just looked for mismatches in whatever kind of lineup they used — be it three big men and two small guys or three small and two big guys," Perasol added.

Attacking Talk n Text on its weak spots, Air21 seized the early initiative, led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter and fended off the Phones Pals’ fourth-quarter chase to snap a two-game slide in their head-on matches in the tourney.

The Express looked so focused on the task at hand that they never allowed the Phone Pals to taste the lead even once.

The Phone Pals came threateningly close at endgame but the Express kept their poise under pressure with brothers Ranidel and Yancy de Ocampo and Wynne Arboleda delivering the crucial points that kept Talk n Text at bay up to the finish.

Down by three at 87-90 with nine seconds left to play, Talk n Text actually had a chance to tie in the closing seconds but Donbel Belano misfired a three-point attempt then Damien Cantrell missed a follow-up shot.

Keeping possession with 1.9 seconds to go, the Phone Pals eventually yielded the match as Jimmy Alapag couldn’t control the inbounds.

Ranidel de Ocampo and Renren Ritualo made 17 points apiece to pace the Express who also drew double-digit outputs from Shawn Daniels, Yancy de Ocampo and Gary David.

Red Bull dished out another solid game with new import James Penny and moved into the threshold of the Final Four with an 80-73 win over Alaska Milk in the second game.

"Mukhang sarili na lang namin ang kalaban namin or a question of whether we can keep our focus up to Wednesday. We will look bad if we can’t wrap it up," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao, confident they can complete their conquest of Alaska.

Daniels scored only 14 points but pulled down 24 big rebounds that went with four blocks, three assists and the same number of steals.

With Daniels already causing Air21 two losses on missed charities in the closing seconds, coach Perasol opted to sit his burly import during plays when the Phone Pals were expected to foul at endgame last night.

Somehow, Perasol’s tactical move paid off with his team going 3-of-4 from the stripe at the finish.