MANILA — Plagued with injuries, the Petron Blaze Boosters played with only eight men against the league-leading Talk N Text Tropang Texters who were at their full strength and the result was an unsurprising 92-82 rout by the Texters Wednesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Already missing the services of their top two centers — June Mar Fajardo and Danny Ildefonso, suffering from swollen scrotum and dislocated shoulder, respectively — and guard Marcio Lassiter, who is still recovering from viral infection, the Boosters suffered yet another blow as another center, Dorian Pena, hurt his knee. Despite their crippled lineup, the Boosters played competitively against the Texters in the first half. But there was no denying the fatigue factor as the Boosters simply lost steam toward the end. Larry Fonacier led TNT with 21 points and six rebounds, while three other Texters also scored in double digits — Kelly Williams with 16, Ranidel de Ocampo 14, and Jimmy Alapag 13. Talk N Text improved to 7-1 as they kept a firm grip on the top spot in the standings. Chris Lutz, Arwind Santos and Jay Washington formed Petron's offensive spearhead, scoring 18, 17 and 16 points respectively. Petron suffered its fifth loss in eight games as it slid to joint sixth and seventh places together with the Barako Bull Energy Cola. In the first match of the doubleheader, Jeff Chan and J.R. Quinahan combined for 42 points to power the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a 101-93 come-from-behind win against the Alaska Aces. Averaging just 5.5 points in the Painters' last two games, Chan finally rediscovered his fiery form knocking in 22 points, including 12 in the final quarter, as Rain or Shine moved to solo second in the standings with its sixth win in eight games. Chan got ample support from Quinahan who sizzled for a season-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field plus seven rebounds. Ryan Arana chipped in 13, while Larry Rodriguez had 12 points and eight rebounds. The loss snapped Alaska's five-game winning streak as the Aces fell to solo fourth with a 5-3 win-loss card. JVee Casio and Cyrus Baguio carried the brunt of the scoring load for the Aces, each finishing with 16 points. However, Alaska badly missed the energy and hustle of super rookie Calvin Abueva as the latter came into the game nursing flu-like symptoms. He saw action for just 18 minutes but still managed to contribute seven points and six rebounds. The Aces appeared headed to notch yet another victory as they led 77-71 at the end of the third quarter. But the Painters clamped down on defense in the fourth quarter as their gunners led by Chan and Quinahan poured in the points. Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo rued his team's lack of defensive intensity, particularly in the second half, which led to Alaska's collapse. “Defense has been the main reason why we were successful in the last five games we've won,” Trillo said. “But how can you win when you gave up 28 and 30 points, respectively in the third and fourth quarters. Our identity is defense, but we chickened out tonight.”
