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After career PBA night, Cardona feels he 'deserves' spot on RP Team


MANILA, Philippines - Mac-Mac Cardona gave Red Bull and RP coach Yeng Guiao 42 reasons Sunday to reconsider him for the national team. The Talk N Text shooting guard lit up the Cuneta Astrodome for a career-high 42 points, as the Tropang Texters defeated Guiao's Barakos 103-93 in the KFC Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup in Pasay City. The 10-point win looked like a convincing one but it was far from it. And the Texters needed every bucket Cardona could produce down the stretch. The 6-0 guard tacked 17 points in a third quarter that saw Talk N Text outscore Red Bull 38-20 - a rally that erased a 50-44 halftime deficit and pulled the Texters ahead 82-70 going into the final period. Cardona wasn't through punishing Guiao. In the fourth, he drilled in two three-pointers consecutively to pad the Texters' lead to 97-86 with three minutes left on the clock and effectively snuff the life out of the Barakos. "I'd like to think I have a shot," Cardona said, when asked whether he deserved a slot on Guiao's National team. "Coach Chot [Reyes] knows how hard I work. This is a message to coach Yeng that I can play for his team." Cardona's previous career-best was 38 points, a mark he reached in July 2007 also against Red Bull. The 42 points eclipsed Kerby Raymundo's 37 as the conference-high. Overall, Cardona was 17-of-26 from the field, including five-of-seven from rainbow territory. "When I looked at the lineup [of the RP team], I knew it was going to be a tossup between Mac-Mac and Cyrus [Baguio]," Reyes, the Texters coach, said. "But in the end, it's still the prerogative of coach [Yeng]." Baguio, whose game developed under Guiao with Red Bull, finished with 10 points. Ali Peek added 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks for Talk N Text, which upped its record to an even 5-5. Backup guard Celino Cruz finished with 15 points to pace Red Bull, which dropped into a tie with Coca-Cola for a league-worst 3-7 card. - GMANews.TV

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