Yet the Llamados still proved too much for Shopinas.com, notching an 86-74 victory that assured them of a top two seeding in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Joe Devance finished with 18 points, but it was Josh Uribiztondo who showed B-MEG the way by scoring
all his 11 points in the opening quarter that gave the team a 17-point lead it mostly clung on to for the remainder of the game.
"We played a very good first quarter and that was our target tonight," said coach Tim Cone after his team's eighth straight victory that gave them a 10-4 win-loss record in the eliminations.
"We wanted to make a statement early. We didn't want them to build their confidence," added Cone
The slate is just half-a-game behind Talk 'N Text and if the Tropang Texters lose to Barangay Ginebra at elims end Sunday, B-MEG takes top spot by virtue of a better quotient.
Each of the teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2 after the elims are rewarded with a twice-to-beat advantage in
the quarterfinals against those seeded Nos. 8 and 7, respectively.
James Sena scored a career-high 20 points on top of 13 rebounds and Elmer Espiritu and Paul Escobal
also came up with some fine numbers. But Shopinas still wound up winless in its maiden conference,
the first team to do so since Air21 went 0-8 in last season's Governors Cup. Great Taste also opened
up the the 1982 Reinforced Filipino 0-13 but won two of its last five games.
After taking the first period, 28-11, B-MEG stretched its lead to a high of 23 at 59-36, but was seemingly content on just exchanging shots with Shopinas after that.
"After the first quarter we sort of flattened out. We didn't play with the same energy in the last three quarters," noted Cone, before giving credit to the Clickers and his counterpart, Franz Pumaren.
"It was a tough conference for them, but they showed character all the way through," said Cone. "It was not an easy thing to do with all those losses, but my hat's off to Franz. It was wearing and tough, but he kept his guys playing all the time. It will build character for them all the way down the line."
Espiritu wound up with 16 points while Escobal finished with 12 points, a game-high eight assists and ably orchestrated their plays after Paolo Hubalde left with still 9:19 left in the game due to a suspected strained left hamstring.
"My former player (at Alaska), Elmer, sent a message to me tonight and Escobal was beating us down
the middle and creating plays. They kept them in the game," said Cone.
Marc Pingris also had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and PJ Simon wound up with 10 points in
helping B-MEG overcome a mere-five-point production from James Yap, the first time in the conference
he failed to score in double figures.
Still, the Llamados managed to open each quarter strong and even went into the last 7:31 with a 79-58 spread following Devance's second triple.
The coasting win was made possible by Urbiztondo, who went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the opening canto and had help from Yap, Pingris and Simon in a 19-2 start. (NC)
The scores:
B-MEG 86 - De Vance 18, Urbiztondo 11, Pingris 11, Simon 10, Acuna 6, Barroca 5, Yap J. 5, Reavis 5,
Raymundo 5, Yap R. 4, De Ocampo 4, Ferriols 2.
SHOPINAS.COM 74 - Sena 20, Espiritu 16, Escobal 12, Ritualo 7, Jazul 6, Sison 5, Duncil 4, Aquino 2,
Hubalde 2, Canlas 0, Se 0.
Quarterscores: 28-11, 53-36, 72-56, 86-74
pba.com.ph source
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