Crispa draw first blood against Toyota in their best-of-five duel for the 1979 PBA All-Filipino title behind Atoy Co, Philip Cezar, Abet Guidaben and Freddie Hubalde.
Crispa rips Toyota by 15
By Ding Marcelo
Bulletin Today
Published Wednesday June 27, 1979
Crispa produced its old, prolific grandeur in grand scale last night to tame defending champion Toyota, 122-107, in the opener of their best-of-five series for the PBA All-Filipino championship at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Redmanizers’ night-long brilliance brought to mind the murderous proficiency that created the league’s first dynasty, highlighted by six straight championships as Baby Dalupan’s charges outclassed the favored Tamaraws in all departments of the game.
Not until the last three minutes, however, when the Tamaraws took out their frontliners one after the other did Crispa fans heaved a sigh of relief as Tamaraw coach Fortunato Acuna accepted imminent defeat with the Redmanizers on top, 109-93.
Alberto Guidaben, humbled by Toyota ace Ramon Fernandez practically all season long, extracted a revenge as he took the sting off the feared Tamaraw center by coming out with an impregnable defense.
Crispa’s victory came after Tanduay had routed Filmanbank, 112-90, for a 1-0 lead in their own best-of-five series for third place.
“Everybody worked hard and contributed to the victory,” said Dalupan who acknowledged that his team exuded the same fire and enthusiasm that won for the Redmanizers six straight championships starting late in 1975 and ending in 1977.
Atoy Co and Philip Cezar produced a performance that struck fear in the opposition, banging in 35 and 30 points, respectively.
“I knew that if Atoy and Philip would play a good game, they are capable of inspiring the team to reach its full potential,” said Dalupan.
True enough, even Alfredo Hubalde, a one-time Most Valuable Player who since winning the award in 1976 has played under the shadow of Co, rose to the occasion. He contributed 29 points and shored up Crispa’s 53-45 edge in rebounds.
And there were Bong de la Cruz, Bernard Fabiosa and Gregorio Dionisio whose sometimes rough handling of Toyota star Robert Jaworski produced some of the game’s more anxious moments.
Twice the match threatened to erupt into a free-for-all but the referees, who got their usual share of the jeers, put the game under control with calls that bordered on overeagerness.
“We were outplayed,” was the terse comment of Acuna. “Masama ang laro.”
“We took the lead and suddenly we collapsed in defense,” he added, noting that they enjoyed a six-point lead, 75-69, after overhauling a 59-67 deficit.
His assessment was shared by Jaworski and Fernandez themselves. The two Toyota mainstays admitted that they as well as the whole team were far below their usual form.
“Our shooting was off, our defense was bad. In short, we played very poorly,” said Jaworski, who was still bitter about the double foul called on him and Dionisio. That double left him with a alight bruise above the left eye, which he said was elbowed by the Crispa guard.
The scores:
Crispa — 122
Co 35
Cezar 30
Hubalde 29
Guidaben 13
Fabiosa 7
Dionisio 2
De la Cruz 2
Gulfin 2
Varela 2
Adornado 0
Espinosa 0
Toyota — 107
Tuadles 24
Arnaiz 23
Fernandez 17
Jaworski 13
King 10
Estrada 8
Bulaong 6
Salazar 4
Legaspi 2
Quarterscores: 40-27, 61-55, 89-81, 122-107
Crispa. 40 21 28 33 — 122
Toyota 27 28 26 26 — 107
Refs: E. Bartolome, J. Obias, G. Ledesma
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