Walk Tall, the new name carried by the Crispa franchise, won its only 1979 PBA third conference elimination round meeting against a Toyota side playing without Ramon Fernandez, Abe King and Estoy Estrada.
WT rallies to beat Toyota
By Al Mendoza
Bulletin Today
Published Sunday Dec. 2, 1979
Timely shuffling by Baby Dalupan carried Walk Tall to a come-from-behind 107-100 victory over previously unbeaten Toyota last night in the PBA third conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
For almost 30 minutes, Dalupan groped in the dark until he made the right move — he put in Philip Cezar in place of the scrappy Irving Chatman.
From 16 points down, 59-75, early in the third quarter, Cezar, who turned 27 yesterday, blasted in 12 points in a wicked 27-8 bomb that catapulted Walk Tall to an 86-81 bubble en route to a 92-83 margin at the end of the period.
The Jeanmakers never encountered trouble from there as Bernard Harris virtually transformed the boards into his own private domain.
The win put Walk Tall and Toyota on even terms with similar 3-1 cards.
With Cezar’s entry, Walk Tall quickened the pace of the game and this created loopholes on Toyota’s defenses, which, in the first two quarters, had become fool-proof.
After a blistering 8-2 attack triggered by Cezar that cut Toyota’s lead to 10 points, 67-77, the famous Walk Tall juggernaut was on.
Andrew Fields made it a 12-point lead for Toyota, 79-67, but then came the onrush of points by Walk Tall, fastbreaking for 19 points against a lone basket by Francis Arnaiz for that 86-81 Walk Tall margin with 10:56 gone in the third quarter.
Fortunato Co, Jr. fired seven of his team-high 28 points in that fiery stretch, hitting four more points in a 6-2 windup of the third period for that 92-83 score at quarter’s end.
Then came Walk Tall’s biggest bulge at 96-83 as Toyota just could not find the magic that had carried the Tamaraws to brilliant scoring spurts in the first two quarters.
But a triple by Robert Jaworski sparked a dangerous 15–5 blast that put Toyota to just within three points, 98-101, with Arnaiz’s hot hands pouring in six of his game-high 29 points in that stretch.
A long jumper by Co plus a crushing dunk by the fired-up Harris quickly threw Toyota off-balance, however, as Walk Tall surged to a 105-98 edge, 3:19 left.
With 50 ticks left, Cezar insured Walk Tall’s win with a stretch lay-up, 107-99, on a perfect court-to-court pass by Co.
“I told them na bumaba lang sa six points ang lamang ng Toyota, we could still make it,” recalled Walk Tall team manager Danny Floro. “Nang maging tatlo ang lamang ng kalaban (79-76), sabi ko sa kanila ‘okay na mga bata.’”
The scores:
Walk Tall — 107
Co 28
Cezar 18
Harris 16
Hubalde 14
Dionisio 9
Chatman 8
Adornado 6
Guidaben 6
Fabiosa 2
Varela 0
De la Cruz 0
Toyota — 100
Arnaiz 29
Fields 24
Jaworski 19
B. King 14
Bulaong 8
Tuadles 4
Legaspi 4
Quarterscores: 31-33, 53-65, 92-83, 107-100
W. Tall 31 22 39 15 — 107
Toyota 33 32 18 17 — 100
Refs: E. Cruz, F. Santarina, A. de la Cruz
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