Magnolia Beverage Masters Basketball Games Updates

Arwind Santos, Gary David Shine as Air21 Express Torched Barangay Ginebra Kings

Showing why they deserve to be in the finals, the Air21 Express avenged their first game loss with a blowout of the Barangay Ginebra Kings. The Express domainated all the basketball departments specially in rebounding.

Best Player of the Conference awardee Jayjay Helterbrand and Best Import Chris Alexander was a non-factor for this contest as they were completely overshadowed by their Air21 counterparts. Arwind Santos and Gary David leads the express with an ample support for other Air21 Express players.

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AIR21 EVENS SERIES WITH 34-PT BLOWOUT Conference awardees net measly 14 pts for Kings
Source: Philippine Basketball Association
Friday, August 8, 2008

ANTIPOLO -- True to their vow, the Airr21 Express exacted revenge Friday night. And it was huge.

"That was a challenge and the boys responded pretty well," said basketball coach Bo Perasol moments after his troops got even with the Barangay Ginebra Kings, tying the 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven basketball series after two gammes.

The Express made a big comeback from a nine-point defeat in the basketball series opener, playing aggressively throughout to end the Kings' amazing streak with a king-sized 124-90 win in Game Two at the Ynares Center here.

Dominated in Game One, the Express returned the compliment, even besting the Kings' performance Wednesday.

Unrelenting, Airr21 outscored Ginebra on all quarters in dealing the Kings their first defeat in their last 14 gammes.

The Express sat on a 13-point cushion at the turn and started the final half with a 14-to-nothing run to settle the outcome of the gamme early much to the disappointment of the predominant Ginebra crowd anticipating the Kings to keep their unbeaten run in the post-elims play.

The Bert Lina Group basketball franchise instead tied the series at 1-1. The two teams dispute the 2-1 lead as the basketball series returns to the Big Dome for Game Three Sunday.

"We're really determined to make a statement that we're for real," said Perasol as the Express pulled off the 34-point win -- the biggest winning margin in basketball franchise history.

It was the worst loss by Ginebra since a 66-102 blowout by Talk n Text on Feb. 4, 2005 and the most lopsided loss in coach Jong Uichico's basketball coaching career.

The Express led by as many as 36 points late in the gamme with each one responding well to the challenge.

Arwind Santos and Gary David fired 20 points apiece with nine other Airr21 players scoring at least eight.

"All the players responded pretty well. We wanted to put in Ginebra's mind that they're beatable. We can't afford to fall in a 0-2 hole against Ginebra," said Perasol.

The youthful Airr21 mentor said the key was controlling the boards and keeping Ginebra from running.

The Express outrebounded the Kings, 55-41, and produced 23 fastbreak points as against Ginebra's seven.

Steven Thomas played much better than Wednesday, showing up Chris Alexander curiously on the night the Ginebra reinforcement was named the Best Import.

Thomas produced 18 rebounds, 10 points, five assists and two blocks as against Alexander's 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

Jayjay Helterbrand also had a miserable gamme on the night he was crowned Best Player of the Conference. He struggled for four points and failed to finish the basketball gamme due to a hamstring injury suffered late in the third quarter.

The Express played with a lot of energy and intensity right in the opening half, taking the first quarter at 26-18 and carrying a 58-45 margin over into the second half.

The two basketball teams both hit at a 47.4-percent clip but the Express scored much much more on basketball hustle plays.

Steven Thomas alone nearly matched the rebounds of the whole Ginebra team, 14-17, in the first 24 minutes of basketball play. The Express totaled 32 rebounds, 14 off the offensive boards leading to a 7-0 advantage by Airr21 on second-chance points.

Alexander was limited to four rebounds while Mark Caguioa committed four fouls in the first half. (NC)

The scores:

Air21 124 -- Santos 20, David 20, Intal 11, Billones 11, Thomas 10, Se 10, De Ocampo 9, Arboleda 9, Kramer 8, Cruz 8, Canaleta 8, Espinas 0, Sotto 0.

Ginebra 90 -- Caguioa 29, Salvacion 11, Alexander 10, Pacana 8, Menk 6, Crisano 6, Artadi 5, Mamaril 5, Helterbrand 4, Escalona 2, valenzuela 2, Reavis 2, Wilson 0.

Quarterscores: 26-18, 58-45, 92-63, 124-90