Toyota kept alive its bid to complete a grand slam after forcing the 1975 PBA All-Philippine Championship to a deciding game with a hard-fought victory over Crispa in Game 4.
Toyota thumps Crispa, evens up title series
By Ernesto Gonzales
Philippines Daily Express
Published Saturday December 13, 1975
CRISPA’S all-Filipino maneuvers backfired last night and Toyota scrambled back with a 79-77 victory that forged a rubber match tomorrow in their best-of-five series for the All-Philippine Championship in the Philippine Basketball Association.
The Comets, outplaying the Filipino Redmanizers, came from eight points down in the second quarter then moved ahead for good early in the last quarter against another all-Filipino combination.
Stan Cherry fired six points in a 10-2 salvo that showed Toyota out front at 73-65 and when Crispa, blowing hot and cold from the field, closed in at 71-73, Orlando Bauzon and Rodolfo Segura bailed out the Comets, 79-73, with two minutes remaining.
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THE VICTORY, fashioned out before another capacity crowd of 32,000 at the Araneta Coliseum, tied the series at 2-all and tomorrow’s playoff, set at 6:45 p.m., gives the Comets a final chance of sweeping all three conferences.
But Toyota coach Dante Silverio was far from satisfied with last night’s victory. He bewilled the shoddy performance of his boys, including Francis Arnaiz and Robert Jaworski, who paid for their indecisiveness by sitting ot the last four minutes for the first time.
“We were just lucky to win. I don’t think we can beat Crispa for the championship with the kind of game we played tonight,” said Silverio.
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THE BATTLE for third place also reached the limit - a rarity in this series - after Universal Textiles clobbered Royal Tru-Orange, 113-99. Weavers and Orangemen collide in tomorrow’s 5 o’clock preliminary.
Crispa coach Baby Dalupan admitted that it was Toyota’s splurge in the second quarter that did his boys in, although he noted that he had no other recourse the way Crispa’s firepower sagged in a tense start.
Indeed, Crispa looked only a ghost of the team that beat Toyota two straight for the first time in their three title series after the Redmanizers lost in the first two conferences via similar 3-1 scores.
The Redmanizers scored only four times in their first 23 attempts and trailed 18-6 with 1:25 left, but the Comets, who used up their seven team fouls early, found themselves behind, 18-20, at the end of the period as Crispa put in 10 of 12 free throws.
WILLIAM ADORNADO stretched this lead to 28-20, before Dalupan pulled out Johnny Burks for Alberto Guidaben as Snake Jones came in for Cherry.
Jones reasserted his might, firing six points and recovering six rebounds in a 20-6 blitzkrieg that shoved Toyota ahead at the half, 44-40.
It took the heroics of Adornado and Philip Cezar, backed by Bernard Fabiosa’s all-court battle, to wipe a 48-40 Toyota spread, but successive errors by Fortunato Co pulled the Comets abreast, 63-60, at the end of the third quarter.
Then came Toyota’s final drive in the last quarter.
In the end, only Adornado and Cezar finished in double figures, combining for 39 points. Toyota had four men chalking up twin figures for a total of 60 points, with Segura leading the way with 20.
The scores:
Toyota - 79
Segura 20
Jaworski 14
Jones 14
Cherry 12
Fernandez 6
Arnaiz 5
Rocha 2
Reynoso A. 2
Bayzon 2
Acuna 2
Reynoso C. 0
Rojas 0
Crispa - 77
Adornado 21
Cezar 18
Crotty 8
Co 6
Fabiosa 6
Burks 6
Franco 4
Soriano 2
De la Cruz 2
Calilan 2
Hubalde 2
Guidaben 0
Quarters: 18-20, 44-40, 63-60, 79-77
Referees: I. Cahanding, R. Bartolome
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