Toyota avenged its first round loss to Crispa by winning an eventful final game of the double-round eliminations marred by incidents that nearly triggered a free-for-all.
Toyota by 23; U-Tex in playoff
By Bert Eljera
Bulletin Today
Published Wednesday June 21, 1978
Toyota, in devastating form, crushed Crispa, 158-135, last night in a rugged, physical game that was only a few shades short of being a fistic contest before a full house at the Araneta Coliseum.
Two players were ejected from the game — one for throwing a punch and the other for a vicious tackle — while Crispa slotman Alberto Guidaben went out of the game for good after sustaining what was initially diagnosed as a fractured jaw early in the first quarter.
Guidaben went sprawling on the floor when Ramon Fernandez hit him on the chin while the Crispa center was attempting a layup. He was taken to a nearby hospital.
Fernandez himself crashed to the floor when Jaime Javier hit him on the mouth a few minutes later.
On both occasions, the referees simply slapped fouls on the offending players instead of throwing them out and from there the game degenerated into a free-hitting contest.
The rugged match nearly erupted into a free-for-all early in the fourth quarter when Fortunato Acuna sent Philip Cezar crashing to the floor with a vicious tackle.
In retaliation, Gregorio Dionisio hit the Toyota guard on the chin, prompting players from both sides to spill into the court and almost trigger a free-for-all.
Timely intervention by peace officers prevented the incident from going out of hand.
The explosive match overshadowed U-Tex’s 152-133 over Royal Tru-Orange in the first game which enabled the Wranglers to forge a playoff with Filmanbank for the fourth and last semifinal slot.
The Wranglers set a new record in field goal percentage, hitting 64 out of 97 tries for a high 65.98 clip. The old record was 57.80 registered by Honda against the same Royal team last May 20.
Tommy Manotoc’s boys will meet the Bankers at 6 p.m. tomorrow with the winner joining Crispa, Toyota and Tanduay in the round of four which starts on Saturday.
The Tamaraws set the tone for the massacre as early as the first half when Dante Silverio’s charges led by 23 points, 78-55. They went on to pad their lead to 33, 104-71, their biggest margin midway in the third quarter.
“The boys gave everything they had tonight,” said Silverio. “They did not lose their composure even when the going got rough physically.”
The victory, which avenged Toyota’s 123-119 loss to Crispa in the first round, cut the Redmanizers’ overall lead over the Tams to 29-26.
The scores:
Toyota — 158
Florencio 34
King 25
Jaworski 28
Arnaiz 17
Fernandez 17
Estrada 15
Legaspi 13
Acuna 5
Javier 4
Bulaong 0
Crispa — 135
Co 33
Cezar 29
Fabiosa 12
Dionisio 12
Hubalde 10
D.L. Cruz 9
Varela 9
Tanduyan 7
Javier 7
Adornado 5
Guidaben 2
Pages 2
Toyota 37 41 45 35 — 158
Crispa 26 31 36 42 — 135
Refs: E. Cruz, R. Bartolome, J. Obias
No comments:
Post a Comment