The 47th meeting of the rivalry overshadowed by the do-or-die match between Mariwasa and Tanduay for a berth in the 1977 PBA First Conference Finals. Mariwasa's victory formally ended a streak of six straight title showdowns between Crispa and Toyota.
Mariwasa nips Tanduay, 116-112
By Bert Eljera
Bulletin Today
Published Friday July 15, 1977
Mariwasa, getting a big lift when Tanduay lost all its big men on fouls in the homestretch, rallied to edge the Distillers, 116-112, in a scary finish last night to earn a ticket to the best-of-five championship series against Crispa in the PBA first conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
Trailing more than three-fourths of the way, the Honda Panthers got an unexpected windfall when Tanduay centers Jaime Taguines, David Supnet and Victor Sanchez fouled out one after the other that left big Billy Robinson in control of both boards.
Taguines, Tanduay’s prized 6’3’’ (190.5 cms) rookie who drilled in a team-high 24 points, fouled out with four minutes and 45 seconds to go and Supnet followed him to the bench 15 seconds later that completely crippled the Distillers at the slot.
Sanchez went out with 3:20 remaining.
The Honda Panthers exploited this advantage to the hilt and with 10 points down, 100-110, Robinson touched off a flurry of free throws that moved Tito Eduque’s boys to within only a point, 109-110, 2:20 left.
Valeriano de los Santos, recently hospitalized for a mild case of food poisoning, stepped in for Cesar Ijares who sprained his foot on a lay-up try and got a foul in the process. De los Santos made both shots to push the Distillers in front by three points, 112-109, 1:33 to go.
Adriano Papa, Jr., who banged in 29 points after Robinson’s game-high 37, jumped on the return play, 111-112, and then after Mike Bilbao missed a hurried jumper, Jesse Sullano scored on a jumpshot for the Panthers’ go-ahead basket, 113-112, 30 ticks left.
Tanduay missed two precious chances to score when skipper Ricardo Cleofas missed on an undergoal try and Rene Canent stole Joaquin Rojas, Jr., on to lose the ball on the baseline.
Robinson got a foul from Cleofas in the inbound play, 15 seconds left, but scored only one of his two free throws that the Distillers still another chance to tie the score.
De los Santos got the throw-in from Bilbao, made a driving jumpshot, the ball dropping out after running the hoop twice, and Rey Alcantara grabbed the rebound.
Papa then pitched a perfect throw to Jesse Sullano who scored unmolested under the basket for the final count.
Rodolfo Soriano split his charities with 14 seconds left and then scored on a layup 11 ticks later after Freddie Hubalde had pilfered the ball from Toyota rookie Pablo Javier to lift Crispa past Toyota, 124-122, in a no-bearing game that saw National Basketball Association referee Manny Sokol act as one of the officials.
The Tams had led by 13 points, 119-106, with three minutes left.
The win — Crispa’s fourth straight over Toyota this season and seven in a row since last year’s third conference — completed the Redmanizers’ six-game sweep of the semifinals, and hiked their lead to 26-21 over the Tamaraws in their continuing series in the PBA.
Toyota closed out with a 1-5 card and will meet Tanduay in the preliminary of the Crispa-Mariwasa match tomorrow in their own best-of-five series for third place.
“We’ll now aim for the championship,” said Eduque. “It was a very hard game and the boys really deserved to win.”
It will mark the first time since 1972 that Mariwasa will figure in the championship under Eduque’s mentorship.
When the best-of-five series starts tomorrow, it will also mark the first time that a team aside from Toyota will clash with Crispa in the championship series of the country’s first pay-for-play league.
Asked to assess his team’s chances against Crispa, Eduque said: “Crispa has the edge both in height and in individual talent of the players. But we will work doubly hard to offset this disadvantage.”
“We lost fair and square,” said Tanduay coach Caloy Loyzaga after the game. “It was the fouls that hurt us the most.”
The scores:
Crispa — 124
Soriano 30
Co 28
P. Cezar 20
Hubalde 13
Guidaben 10
Pages 10
Franco 8
Torres 6
Dionisio 2
D. Cezar 2
Calilan 0
Toyota — 122
Sta. Maria 27
Fernandez 17
Bulaong 16
Acuna 14
Jaworski 12
King 12
Legaspi 11
Rocha 8
Javier 3
Cortez 2
Bauzon 0
Crispa. 25. 34. 27. 38. — 124
Toyota. 31. 27. 29. 35. — 122
Refs: M. Sokol, J. Obias
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