Coca-Cola cuts short Barako's celebration

The celebration didn’t last long for Barako coach Junel Baculi and his Coffee Energy Masters. With James Penny’s all-around game in full swing and Sammy Monroe struggling to duplicate his previous performance, the Coffee Energy Masters proved no match against the Coca-Cola Tigers, who scored a runaway 97-74 win Wednesday night for an auspicious debut in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

In his second tour of duty with the Tigers, Penny torched his former team for 27 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and four block shots that thwarted Barako’s bid to pull off another upset. The Coffee Energy Masters were coming off a 97-93 upset win over the Sta. Lucia Realtors only three days ago. But except for a brief spell in the third period, nowhere did the Coffee Energy Masters came close to duplicating the feat as the Tigers poured in the points in the final 12 minutes to pull away for good and notch the one-sided win. "I just told James (Penny) that everybody’s talking about the other imports. But I believe that you are still one of the best right here, right now. And he proved that tonight," said Coca-Cola coach Bo Perasol of his hard-working import. Ironically, Penny was Barako Coffee’s import when it won the 2005-06 Fiesta Cup. Gary David had 17 points and Asi Taulava added 11 markers and nine rebounds for the Tigers. Monroe, who had 39 points and 11 rebounds in his league debut Sunday, struggled in the first half, missing his first 11 shots as Penny and JR Rizada took turns in guarding him. He finished with 25 points, 22 coming in the second half, but shot 8-of-26 from the field and had five turnovers. "We got him (Monroe) out of his rhythm," said Perasol. "That is one of the most important aspects where we did very well. While he did score in the 20s, most of them were insignificant." But it was also Monroe who sparked Barako’s second half comeback. His three-pointer with 4:30 remaining in the third cut what was once a 17-point lead to just 50-46. It was the closest the Coffee Masters could get though, as Penny took over for the Tigers. He hit a long three-pointer with eight-tenths of a second left in the period to push back Coca-Cola’s lead to 65-53. In the final quarter, the Tigers were simply extra hot as they shot 14-of-20 from the field on their way to scoring 32 points. They eventually erected their biggest lead at 97-70 on a Gary David three-pointer. Richard Alonzo was the only other player to score in double figures for Barako with 10 while grabbing 13 rebounds. – GMANews.TV