Crispa exacted revenge on Toyota behind Freddie Hubalde to win a record-tying 14th straight victory in the 1979 PBA All-Filipino Conference.
Crispa tops Toyota by 15
By Ding Marcelo
Bulletin Today
Published Wednesday June 6, 1979
Crispa banked on a murderous third-quarter binge last night to stop defending champion Toyota, 118-103, and regain the solo lead with their 14th straight win in the PBA All-Filipino conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
The victory, which avenged Crispa’s 114-123 loss to Toyota on opening day, enabled the Redmanizers to tie the longest winning streak in the PBA which they themselves set in 1976 when they recorded their grand slam.
One-time Most Valuable Player Alfredo Hubalde, coming out of the shadows of teammate Fortunato Co, Jr., struck the hardest for the Redmanizers as he ignited an 18-2 third-quarter Crispa barrage that put the Redmanizers on top to stay, 62-57.
Crispa’s win came after the Tanduay Esquires had gained at least a tie for the fourth and last semifinals berth with a hard-earned 111-100 win over the Honda Wildcats in the first game.
The victory boosted Tanduay’s record to 9-6, one and one half games ahead of the U-Tex Wranglers, the other still in contention for the last semifinals berth with a 7-7 mark.
Hubalde shared scoring honors with Alberto Guidaben, both with 23 points, as the Redmanizers outshot the defending champions, 39-20, in the third quarter when Toyota’s gun fell silent under Crispa’s pressing defense.
The absence of an able court general proved disastrous for Toyota as Robert Jaworski, last year’s MVP, sat out the match with a sprained right ankle which he suffered during the team’s workout last Saturday.
“Mas masakit na matalo kami ngayong wala si Jaworski (It would have been doubly painful for us had we lost to a Jaworski-less Toyota team),” said Crispa coach Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan as he acknowledged Jaworski’s worth to his team.
Tamaraw mentor Fortunato Acuna explained that there was a slight swelling on Jaworski’s foot but it is not serious enough to prevent him from seeing action at the start of the semifinals on June 12.
In the absence of Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez, who is leading the race for this year’s MVP award, was the guiding force for the beleguered Tamaraws as he defended, assisted and rebounded with authority aside from scoring a game-high 27 points.
An appreciative crowd of some 25,000 warmly applauded him when he fouled out in the dying minutes. By then Crispa was way ahead, 110-96.
For two full quarters, the Tams had looked like they would beat the Redmanizers even without Jaworski when they led their arch rivals, 28-22, in the first period and 53-44 in the second.
Fernandez, with four fouls, was rested at the start of the third quarter and the Redmanizers took advantage of this by staging that blazing rally.
Co, the dreaded scoring machine who had become the first player to score 5,000 points, put the icing on the victory cake by firing 11 of his 13 points in the final period.
But just to show how well Arnulfo Tuadles did his guarding job on Co, the Crispa superstar was held to a season-low of 13 points.
The Tamaraws came up with a dozen blocked shots, including five by Fernandez. During one play in the fourth quarter, the Toyota center blocked Guidaben twice under the basket.
The win, coming on their 64th meeting, hiked Crispa’s overall edge to 34-29. One game was not counted.
The loss was only the Tamaraws’ second in 15 games.
The scores:
Crispa — 118
Guidaben 23
Hubalde 23
Cezar 18
Co 13
Dionisio 13
Adornado 11
Fabiosa 4
Espinosa 3
Varela 2
De la Cruz 2
Gulfin 0
Toyota — 103
Fernandez 27
Tuadles 22
Arnaiz 15
Sta. Maria 14
Javier 11
Estrada 8
Salazar 4
Legaspi 2
Bulaong 0
King 0
Quarterscores: 22-28, 44-53, 83-73, 118-103
Crispa 22 22 39 35 — 118
Toyota 28 25 20 30 — 103
Refs: J. Obias, R. Victorino, G. Asuncion
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