Arigo bails out wounded Tigers

John Arigo put in his best output in the last four seasons and the injury-plagued Coca-Cola Tigers overcame a 20-point deficit, pulling off an 88-86 thriller of a win over Red Bull to clinch the last slot in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup playoff phase at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City last night.

Arigo scattered 31 points, including a big trey in the waning seconds, as the Tigers fashioned out the stirring come-from-behind victory to oust the Bulls in their spirited duel for the last seat in the wildcard round.

The Bulls were eliminated from the playoff as they reeled to their 12th loss against five wins, rendering their last game against the Sta. Lucia Realtors tomorrow non-bearing.

“No one can fill the shoes of Asi Taulava and Nic Belasco. I just tried my best and everyone had his contribution,” said Arigo after pouring his biggest production since scoring 35 points during the 2004-05 Philippine Cup.

“That’s the good thing about this team, when we need to win a big game, we have veteran players rising to the occasion. When we lost Asi, Nic stepped up. With both gone, John took his turn to carry the team,” said Coca-Cola interim coach Kenneth Duremdes.

“This is a good Christmas gift for us. At least, we’re still alive by next year,” Duremdes said.

Closing out their elims stint with seven wins against 11 defeats, the Tigers go through the wildcard round, needing to win two knockout duels to make it to the quarterfinals.

Belasco is out for the rest of the tourney with a hairline fracture on right ankle. Taulava has a 50-50 chance of coming back with a fractured left middle finger.

After a long chase, the Tigers pulled even at 80 on a three-pointer by Ronjay Buenafe with three minutes left to play.

Coca-Cola surged ahead at 82-80 also through Buenafe who converted a one-handed looper entering the last two minutes of the contest.

At 86-88, Red Bull had a chance to salvage the game but Jeff Chan missed a three-point attempt from the right flank as time expired.

Red Bull, thus, will miss the playoffs for the second time in the last 19 conferences.

This is its worst finish in a tourney since also placing dead last in the 2004-05 All-Filipino tourney.

Arigo was 4-of-6 from the three-point area, 9-of-14 from the two-point zone and 1-of-1 from the stripe.

Mark Telan contributed a double-double with 14 rebounds and 10 points with Buenafe adding 10 points, counting two treys.