Barako Bull's Dorian Pena (R) asserts his might under the basket against Petron Blaze's Doug Kramer (C) and Jayson Deutchman in Wednesday's PBA action at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Manila. Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — The Barako Bull Energy Cola capped a night of upsets with a stunning 92-88 victory against the highly favored Petron Blaze Boosters Wednesday in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum. The lowly Air21 Express earlier pulled the rug from under multi-titled Talk N Text Tropang Texters, 102-100. The Energy Cola razed a 12-point Petron lead in the third quarter and then hung tough in the final period en route to its second straight win and fifth overall in 12 games. The victory lifted Barako Bull to solo fifth in the standings. It was the first time that Barako Bull defeated Petron since the 2005-06 season. Petron lost for the third time in four games and dropped to an 8-3 card, still at joint second and third spot with idle Rain or Shine. The Energy Cola took advantage of the absence of the injured June Mar Fajardo, Petron's top scorer and rebounder. As a result, Barako Bull ruled the boards, 53-44. With the 6-9” Fajardo out, Barako Bull's Dorian Pena dominated the paint, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Mick Pennisi also played a huge role for Barako Bull, draining back-to-back three-pointers as the Energy Cola started the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run. Pennisi finished with nine points. JC Intal also waxed hot, finishing with 17 points, while Denok Miranda had 11 points and nine assists against his former team. Rookie Carlo Lastimosa chipped in with 10 points. Chris Lutz led Petron with 17 points, while Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot added 15 points apiece. In the other match, league doormat Air21 Express pulled off a monumental upset, tripping the three-time defending champion Talk N Text Tropang Texters on the heroics of an amazingly rejuvenated Asi Taulava and the clutch plays of Joseph Yeo and KG Canaleta. It was only the third victory in 12 outings for the Express who remained at the bottom of the standings. Nevertheless, the win kept alive Air21's hopes of making it to the playoffs if the Express could find a way to win their last two remaining elimination round games. Five teams are bunched ahead of Air21, all with a 4-7 win-loss card. “At least we're still alive and kicking,” Express head coach Franz Pumaren said. Talk N Text suffered its fourth loss in 11 matches as it slipped to solo fourth in the standings. The 6'9” Taulava, the oldest active PBA cager at 40, played like the dominant center that he was in his early days in the league, notching his sixth double-double of the conference to lead Air21 with 23 points and 18 rebounds. Taulava, who began his career with the Talk N Text franchise in 1999, started hot, scoring 11 points in the first quarter which the Express took, 23-21. The tightly fought game saw 12 lead changes and seven deadlocks. In the final minutes of the match, the Texters pulled ahead, 97-91, on the exploits of Jimmy Alapag who drilled 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range. The Express were undaunted. Canaleta's trey triggered an 8-0 Air21 run capped by a Yeo three-point play that shoved the Express ahead, 99-97, with 35 seconds left. The Express padded their lead with two free throws. Jayson Castro struck back with a three-pointer with 3.4 ticks left, but it was not enough to save his team from a crushing defeat. Castro scored a team-best 21 points. Canaleta finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Yeo added 13 points and 12 assists. Games Friday: Alaska vs. Meralco; and Petron Blaze vs. GlobalPort.
