Generix stay in hunt, foil Wizards

MANILA, Philippines - Pharex pounced on Magnolia’s erratic stint in the third quarter as the Bidang Generix romped away with a surprisingly easy 80-61 victory to remain in the hunt for an outright semifinal berth in the PBL Unity Cup at the San Juan gym last night.

Fil-Am Chris Ross rebounded from three so-so games with a rare triple-double performance as he fired 14 points, hauled down 12 rebounds and dished off 12 assists to power the Bidang Generix to third place at 3-4 in a tie with their victims.

With a slight edge over the Wizards in the tiebreaker, the Bidang Generix can clinch the third and last automatic semis seat with a victory over Oracle Residences tomorrow.

Earlier, Oracle smothered Cobra from start to finish and ran away with a 97-80 win.

The Titans led by 13 points after the first quarter and built leads of as many as 22 points (58-36) early in the third behind the red-hot shooting of John Wilson and Benedict Fernandez on their way to the one-sided victory.

The Energy Warriors, starring Paul Lee, actually threatened to within 70-76, but the Titans quickly countered with a 10-0 binge to pull away again by 16 points, 5:10 left in the third.

It was the Titans’ sixth win in seven starts, coming back from a stinging 75-77 loss to the Magnolia Wizards last week that halted their five-game run.

Fernandez and Wilson finished with 14 points apiece while veterans Edwin Asoro and Rico Maierhofer also produced big numbers for the Titans.

Asoro, the former star of National University, chipped in 12 points and five rebounds while the 6-foot-6 Maierhofer fell short of posting a double-double performance with nine points and 12 rebounds.

The Energy Warriors never recovered from that early Titans blitz as they took their sixth loss against two wins.

Seldom-used Jason Nocom and VJ Serios also shone for Oracle as they combined for 21 points.

Wilson fired three triples in the first half then the Titans sustained their run in the third to post a 58-36 bulge more than two minutes gone in the second half.

Lee, who won the Best Player award last conference, finished with19 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.