Abueva shines as Excelroof gains share of PBL lead

Calvin Abueva provided the spark in the final period as Excelroof hacked out an 89-82 win over Cossack Blue in Saturday's 2010 PBL PG Flex-Erase Placenta Cup at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym. The 6'3" Abueva showed tenacity on both ends of the floor and this rubbed off on his teammates like Jimbo Aquino, John Raymundo and Marc Agustin as the 25ers gained a share of first place with Pharex B Complex with a 5-1 win-loss record.

“Iba talaga kapag nasa loob si Calvin (Abueva). Ang ipinakikita niyang intensity at aggressiveness ay nakakahawa sa kanyang mga teammates," coach Renato Agustin said of Abueva, who posted a double-double output of 13 points and 14 rebounds. Jimbo Aquino topscored with 19 points, including nine in the final period, and his third triple of the game iced the score at 65-all. Aquino, joined hands with Raymundo, Agustin, and Abueva in a 13-3 bomb to give Excelroof an 80-71 advantage inside the last 60 seconds of the game. “We talked about the importance of winning this game. If we lose, we will go down to third and fourth place but if we win, we will be up there with Pharex. So hindi talaga bumigay ang mga bata," Agustin said. Raymundo who finished with 11 points, also had seven assists and two steals while Gilbert Bulawan added 11 points to go with 11 rebounds. Marc Agustin fired all his six points in the final period, including an alley-hoop play from Aquino to highlight Excelroof’s run. Saguindel finished with 29 points for Cossack while JR Taganas was a monster underneath the goal, grabbing 21 boards, just four rebounds short of tying the league-record 25 posed by Paul Asi Taulava of Blu Detergents in 1998. But the team's offense broke down in the crucial stages of the contest with Saguindel even committing two costly turnovers. The loss dropped the Vodka Spirits to 4-2 and booted them out of the race for the top two spots and the coveted twice-to-beat advantage in the semis. James Martinez added 13 points but he only scored three in the second half that hurt Cossack's campaign. - GMANews.TV