Sta. Lucia returns to winning, routs Express

Sta. Lucia finally rediscovered their old winning form in a 113-91 rout of Air21 Friday night in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Realtors relied on their staple weapon – defense – to slow down the Express’ high-scoring import Leroy Hickerson early on, before coming through with a crucial run in the second half to pull off a win that had eluded the team for a long time now. The franchise has lost six straight games since parting ways with former superstars Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes. The Realtors’ last win was on May 12 when they defeated the Alaska Aces, 91-87. With a 5-11 record, the Realtors moved within a win of clinching a playoff spot in the wildcard phase of the season-ending tournament. "It’s been a long time," said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez, heaving a big sigh of relief during the post-game interview. “My players showed that we can win. It’s really hard to look at our team without Ryan and Kelly. We try to find solutions to every problem. We adjusted. We learned from our losses." The Realtors can formally clinch a wild card seat with a win either against Alaska on Sunday or Coca-Cola on June 25. "Sana tuloy-tuloy na ito. Mahirap ang wild card (I hope momentum is on our side after this win. The wild card stage is tough). But we are not thinking of that yet. What we just did tonight was to play a solid transition game," Fernandez added. Anthony Johnson was again the top man for Sta. Lucia with 28 points. Ali Peek had 12 and Yousif Aljamal added 11. The Realtors put the game away for good by scoring 36 points in the third period and had their biggest lead of the game at 108-75 with 3:45 left to play. Prior to that, Sta. Lucia already took care of business by clamping down on the high-scoring Hickerson early in the game. The Air21 import, playing only his third game but already earned a reputation as a big-time scorer after exploding for a season-high 46 points in the Express’ 98-94 loss to Alaska last week, did finish with a game-high 37 points, but most of them came at a time when the Realtors had the match well under control. The loss was a costly one for Air21. Losing for the 13th time as against only three wins, the Express find themselves in a tie with Barako Energy Coffee for ninth and 10th spots and on the verge of missing the playoffs. The Express did put up some semblance of a fight, rallying back from a 42-29 deficit and leading 49-47. But a five-point cluster courtesy of rookie guard Josh Urbiztondo – including a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the half – and the Realtors outscoring the Express in the third quarter, 36-18, had Sta. Lucia racing to an 88-67 advantage entering the final period. – JVP, GMANews.TV