Crispa leaned on a fourth quarter run to tie the 1975 PBA Second Conference finals at a game apiece. It was only Crispa’s fifth win in 14 games against Toyota in the professional ranks.
Crispa stops Toyota, 101-91
By Al Mendoza
Bulletin Today
Published Wednesday November 19, 1975
Crispa-Floro blitzed Toyota with a vicious fourth quarter assault last night to win, 101-91, and square their best-of-five series for the Philippine Basketball Association second conference championship at the Araneta Coliseum at one game apiece.
The Redmanizers routed the Comets, 33-18, in the final 12 minutes to avenge their 98-96 setback at the hands of the first conference champions last Sunday.
Thus, the two teams are all tied up going into tomorrow’s crucial third game, which will see the return of Toyota’s Robert Jaworski and Crispa’s Rodolfo Soriano to their respective teams.
Jaworski and Soriano each received a one-game suspension from the PBA technical committee which found them guilty of deliberately punching fellow players in last Sunday’s bruising match.
Soriano, who was also fined P1,000, bloodied Ramon Fernandez’s nose in a rebound scramble. Then Jaworski, who was fined P500, retaliated for Fernandez by hitting Soriano.
Noritake made it a day of revenge by outlasting Royal Tru-Orange, 109-106, in their own best-of-five series for third place.
The Orangemen had defeated the Porcelainmakers, 125-122, in their first match also last Sunday.
Toyota’s Oscar Rocha and Crispa’s Fortunato Co nearly came to blows in the dying seconds but both were quickly pacified by teammates.
Co was elbowed in the face by Rocha during a loose ball situation late in the fourth quarter.
Philip Cezar, William Adornado, Fortunato Co and Reynaldo Franco dropped a 10-4 opening salvo in the fourth quarter to give Crispa the lead, 78-77, and signal the start of the Redmanizers decisive last quarter spurt.
The closest the Comets managed to come to within Crispa after that was six points, 97-91, but only about a minute and a half remained.
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, factor in Crispa’s magnificent fourth quarter performance was Crotty’s handcuffing of both Byron “Snake” Jones and Stan Cherry.
While Crotty was busy checking Jones, Co and Adornado alternated in riddling the Comet defense and ended up sharing scoring honors with 22 points apiece.
The 6’8’’ Jones, who routed Johnny Burks in the first three quarters, missed four straight attempts from close range midway in the fourth quarter and these hurt the Toyota cause.
Crispa’s win was only its fifth in 14 games with Toyota, but Redmanizer coach Baby Dalupan considered the victory “a big morale booster for the boys especially so that it came in the championship.”
The individual scores:
Crispa - 101
Adornado 22
Co 22
Fabiosa 18
Cezar 14
Burks 10
Franco 7
Crotty 4
De la Cruz 0
Calilan 0
Guidaben 0
Toyota - 91
Arnaiz 19
Jones 19
Segura 10
Bauzon 9
Rocha 9
C. Reynoso 8
Acuna 7
Concepcion 4
A. Reynoso 3
Cherry 3
Clarino 0
Rojas 0
Crispa 22 24 22 33 - 101
Toyota 25 24 24 18 - 91
Refs: F. Santarina, R. Bartolome
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