Danny I fuels Petron's win over TnT

MANILA, Philippines -  The Danny Ildefonso of old returned to form and made his best performance in years despite a leg injury as Petron Blaze once again outlasted Talk n Text in a tight battle with an 85-82 win to move on the threshold of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Ildefonso scattered 22 points, including a clutch jumper from the right quarter court giving Petron the lead for good at 83-82 with 55.7 seconds left to play.

Chris Lutz put up a solid back-up job and capped his effort with a big hustle play that sent him to the stripe for two charities making it 85-82 with 9.3 ticks left.

The Boosters just never blinked in a virtual eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with the Texters, pulling off the win that gave them the commanding three-game-to-one lead in the best-of-seven semifinals series.

Slamming Talk n Text’s grand slam bid in the last conference, Petron can foil the Texters’ title-retention aspiration this time with a win either tomorrow, Sunday or Wednesday.

“The chance to make the finals is now in our hands, we’ll do our best not to let it slip away,” said Ildefonso.

Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes tipped his hats off to Petron, admitting the Boosters are playing better. He stressed, though, that they’re not yet about to surrender the series.

“The series is closer than the score. We lost the last three games only by seven, and that gives us hope,” said Reyes.

The Texters had a chance to send the game into overtime but Ranidel de Ocampo and Jimmy Alapag muffed a three-point attempt each in the waning seconds.

Ildefonso, Lutz and Joseph Yeo carried much of the fight for Petron in this game as Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos failed to deliver their usual numbers.

Santos, Petron’s double-double machine, struggled for personal conference lows of seven points and two rebounds.

“We held down both Arwind and Cabagnot but Danny Ildefonso stepped up. That’s a mark of a good team. They’re making the big shots that count. That’s the story,” said Reyes.

 “The last two games boiled down to one final play. It’s either we make a shot or they make a shot. Both went their way,” Reyes added.

Ryan Reyes fired 17 points to make up for his crucial lapses in Game Three. The problem was that he suffered a wrist injury making him doubtful for the next game.

Reyes, who had never hit double figures in the series, made 11 right in the first half in this game.

The hard-nosed Fil-Am guard went 2-of-2 from the three-point area and 2-of-4 from the two-point zone, and the whole TnT team shot well as they enjoyed a 44-38 cushion at the half.

The Texters stretched their lead to 10, 40-30, in the third quarter, but the Boosters charged back and thrived in the crunch.

NOTES: Eight-time PBA champion coach Jong Uichico has left the SMC Group to join Chot Reyes, Ryan Gregorio and Norman Black in the Smart Gilas pool of coaches. B-Meg coach Tim Cone has also been invited while Serbian mentor Rajko Toroman has been scratched from the list. Uichico severed his ties with SMC after being with the giant group since he served as assistant coach to Black at San Miguel in 1991. He later assumed the head coaching post and had his first championship in the 1999 Commissioner’s Cup. He won five more crowns for SMB before being moved over to Barangay Ginebra, the most popular PBA team that he handed two titles. With eight championships in all, Uichico ranks fourth, behind only Baby Dalupan (15), Tim Cone (12) and Norman Black (10), in the list of coaches with the most number of titles.

The scores:

Petron 85 – Ildefonso 22, Lutz 13, Yeo 13, Cabagnot 8, Santos 7, Reyes 6, Sharma 6, Miranda 5, Tugade 3, Baclao 2.

Talk n Text 82 – Reyes 17, De Ocampo 15, Castro 13, Dillinger 9, Peek 9, Fonacier 6, Williams 5, Carey 4, Alapag 3, Aguilar 1.

Quarterscores: 22-23, 38-44, 60-66, 85-82