Crispa rallied in the second half to beat Toyota and earn a spot in the championship series of the 1977 PBA second conference against U-Tex. The loss marked the second straight time the Tamaraws failed to make the finals.
Crispa shades Toyota, 90-87
By Bert Eljera
Bulletin Today
Published Sunday Nov. 20, 1977
Crispa, down nearly three-fourths of the way, edged Toyota in their playoff last night, 90-87, to gain the right to meet U-Tex for the championship of the PBA second conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
The best-of-five series starts on Tuesday with the Redmanizers and the Wranglers clashing at 7:30 p.m.
The Tamaraws, missing the finals for the second straight time meet the 7-Up Uncolas at 5:30 p.m. in the opener of their own best-of-five series for third place.
The Redmanizers, trailing 18-21 in the first quarter, 30-44 in the second period and by eight points in the third frame, 56-64, inched ahead only in the dying seconds of the third period on a pair of charities by Philip Cezar, 76-75.
Gregorio Dionisio sparked a 6-2 Crispa flurry early in the fourth quarter with a three-point play that gave Baby Dalupan’s boys an 82-77 lead, but the Tams struck back to tie the count at 85-all, 6:20 left, behind Francis Arnaiz, Robert Jaworski and John Irving.
Rodolfo Soriano scored Crispa’s go-ahead basket on a layup, 87-85, and then Fortunato Co, Jr., who had missed all his six attempts in the first half, scored what proved to be the winning basket, 89-85, 3:10 remaining.
After Bruce “Sky” King charities twice off Soriano, Bernard Fabiosa knocked in what proved to be the last point of the spine-tingling contest — a free-throw with 40 ticks left.
But the drama on the court, which kept some 30,000 fans on the edge of their seats throughout the 48-minute duel, did not end there.
The diminutive Fabiosa got the rebound after he missed his second free throw but Jaworski stole the ball off him and drove all the way but missed what had looked like an easy layup.
Irving forced a jump on Cyrus Mann in the rebound, Ramon Fernandez got the tap, jumped and missed. Irving forced another jumpball, this on Alberto Guidaben, 15 ticks left.
Irving tapped the ball to Bulaong, who fumbled near the sideline but he redeemed himself in the next play by intercepting a pass by Guidaben intended for Co.
Bulaong, however, missed and Co the ball out, three seconds left. The Tams then muffed their last chance to score when Irving missed a side jumper a split second before the final buzzer.
“Swerte lang talaga (We’re just lucky),” said Dalupan after the game. “We got the breaks in the closing minutes.”
Toyota coach Dante Silverio echoed Dalupan’s observation that breaks decided the thriller.
“We tried hard to win but it was simply not our game,” Silverio said. “We missed badly in the fourth quarter.”
Silverio, however, had some comments on the officiating and singled out Dr. Eriberto Cruz, one of the three referees.
“He was watching my players closely,” Silverio said.
The Redmanizers, thanks mainly to Mann, outrebounded the Tams, 46-33. Mann, who nursed three fouls as early as the first quarter and was in danger of fouling out when he picked up his fifth foul with still 7:30 left, also topped Crispa’s production with 18 points.
Mann, who managed to hang on despite the one-in-one play ordered against him by Silverio, pulled down 18 rebounds, handed out 20 assists and blocked seven shots.
Fernandez led all scorers with 19 points, all of them in the first half which saw the Tams dominate the play.
The pressure of the game was clearly evident on the errors department. Crispa committed 23 errors and had 44 turnovers while Toyota had 18 errors and 23 turnovers.
The scores:
Crispa — 90
Mann 18
Co 12
Fabiosa 11
Cezar 11
Guidaben 11
Soriano 9
Dionisio 8
Hubalde 2
Franco 1
Toyota — 87
Fernandez 19
Jaworski 15
Irving 15
Arnaiz 14
B. King 13
Bulaong 7
Legaspi 2
Sta. Maria 1
Acuna 0
Salazar 0
Crispa 18 21 37 14 — 90
Toyota 21 23 31 12 — 87
Refs: E. Cruz, R. Bartolome, I. Cahanding
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