With Air21 soaring, it’s not Olsen’s day

MANILA, Philippines - Air21 showed up full of life in its All Souls’ Day tussle with Petron Blaze as it snapped a four-game skid with a rousing 97-76 win in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Express came out firing, building an early double-digit spread at 32-19, and sustained their spirited performance all the way to pull off the holiday shocker.

The Boosters, meanwhile, simply looked not ready to play this particular game.

“It’s one of those games where a certain team has that kind of game – nothing is going right,” said Air21 coach Franz Pumaren.

“But credit goes to my players too. They were a different Air21 team tonight. They’re aggressive and they outworked Petron,” Pumaren also said.

The Express played a superb game on both ends, dominating the heavily favored Petron side for their first win in nearly a month jacking up their record to 2-5.

Mark Isip, Rob Reyes, Bonbon Custodio, Nelbert Omolon and KG Canaleta logged double-digit outputs as the Express denied the Boosters a second straight win under coach Olsen Racela.

It was a sad loss in particular for Racela who turned a year older on All Saints’ Day.

It was not Olsen’s day with his team struggling with a 34.2-percent shooting and committing 16 turnovers in suffering a fourth loss against three wins.

“My coaching staff scouted Petron pretty well and we made good preparation for this game,” said Pumaren.

“We know that they’re good if they have the ball and pushing it. We kept on hustling back and stopped their fastbreak,” Pumaren added.

Taking full control of the team a week back against Globalport, Racela gave the Boosters more leeway, allowing them to play freewheeling basketball.

The Express, however, turned out ready to meet the Boosters head-on in this kind of game.

Jayvee Casio sneaked in a layup off Kelly Williams in the closing seconds and Alaska Milk ended Talk n Text’s unbeaten run with a 94-92 squeaker in the nightcap.

“It’s no joke going up against Jason Castro and Jimmy Alapag, but Jayvee just took over and gave us that win,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo after they handed the Texters their first loss in seven games in the season.

The Aces closed in on the Texters at 5-2 after five straight wins.

Isip and his teammates outhustled, outdefended and outgunned Petron, limiting the Boosters to their lowest output in the season.

The Express led by 21, 79-58, after the first three quarters and enjoyed a lead as much as 25 at 85-60.

“Gusto ko nga noon, sana tapos na ang game. Baka makabalik pa sila,” said Pumaren.

“The big difference was that we limited our turnovers. In our last games, we’re throwing the ball away by bunches,” Pumaren added.