PBA: Petron dumps Powerade in battle of trade partners

The new-look Petron Blaze Boosters started strong and ended strong, surviving a furious Powerade Tigers rally in the third quarter to win 97-83, Sunday at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo, on the opening day of the 2012 PBA Governor's Cup.

The Tigers missed their first eight field goal attempts, allowing Petron to build a 6-0 start that they inflated all the way to 23-14 on a score by their import, Eddie Basden.  But as they nursed a 28-22 lead early in the second quarter, Powerade came roaring back.

A pull-up triple by Gary David kickstarted a 9-2 run that gave Powerade their first lead of the game, 31-30, on a short jumper by their new center Rabeh Al-Hussaini, whom they acquired for Marcio Lassiter, from the very team they were playing.

In response, put-backs by the newly reacquired Dorian Pena and a healthy Chris Lutz countered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead, 36-31.

Then in what turned out to be the turning point of the game, Al-Hussaini was whistled for a flagrant-2 foul for throwing an elbow at the head of Pena, which led to his ejection at the 7:02 mark.

Without their starting slotman, Powerade was held to just five more points in the half, all coming from free throws, while Petron unloaded 20 big points to go up 57-36 by the break.

Instead of rolling over and giving up though, the Tigers mounted yet another comeback, but this one proved to be more epic in scale. Ramped-up defense by Powerade held Petron to just a single field goal in the third period's first seven and a half minutes.

On the other end of the court, David and Powerade import Rashad McCants went to town, slicing the deficit all the way down to a solitary point, 57-56, on a McCants long-bomb at the 4:54 mark.

That 20-2 meltdown was enough to rouse Petron from their slumber though. Alex Cabagnot countered the barrage with a triple of his own, and two scores by Basden helped give them some breathing room, as they went up 70-63 with a period left to play.

With David and McCants resting on the bench at the dawn of the fourth, Petron stretched their advantage to nine, 78-69, and then despite Powerade's big guns returning, to double-figures on a Basden teardrop, 82-70.

Scores by Jondan Salvador, another new acquisition, and McCants briefly kept Powerade in it, with a split at the line by the former Barako Bull Energy power forward making it 86-77 with 2:54 left in the game.

In response, the former Chicago Bull Basden canned a triple, and then came up with a steal on the next possession and scored in transition to boost the lead to 14, two minutes left.

McCants and David took it back to 10, 91-81, but Cabagnot closed the door on any comebacks with a scoop shot at the 51 second mark, to give the defending champions their first win in the conference.

Basden led all scorers with 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting, contributing 10 rebounds as well to the cause.

Starting floor general Alex Cabagnot had his fingers all over the game, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds and six dimes, while "Spider-man" Arwind Santos hauled in a double-double of 16 markers and 10 boards.

Powerade got 27 from McCants on 27 shots, and 26 from David, who kept his streak of 20-plus point outings alive. The rest of the Tigers though, tallied a mere 30, as the next highest scorer was Salvador, who made up for his seven points somewhat with 10 rebounds.

It was a welcome victory for Petron, who had to play minus their much-coveted off-season prize Lassiter, the fourth overall pick in the 2011 draft. The former Gilas national team member fractured a finger earlier in the week and is expected to miss three weeks.

Coupled with Al-Hussaini's ejection, it was hard to judge who got the better end of the deal that swapped Lassiter and the later-traded Celino Cruz from Powerade to Petron for Al-Hussaini, Rey Guevarra and Lordy Tugade, with the latter two barely making an impact in scant minutes for the Tigers. — ELR, GMA News


The scores:

PETRON 97 - Basden 28, Cabagnot 17, Santos 16, Pena 7, Lutz 6, Miranda 6, Reyes 5, Baclao 4, Yeo 4, Washington 4.

POWERADE 83 - McCants 27, David 26, Salvador 7, Casio 5, Anthony 4, Al-Hussaini 4, Adducul 4, Lingganay 3, Vanlandingham 3, Guevarra 0, Calimag 0, Tugade 0.

Quarter scoring: 26-20, 57-36, 70-63, 97-83