Powerade takes Game 7, advances to PBA finals

Thursday, January 19, 2012

MANILA — Powerade ended the hope of Rain or Shine by pulling off a 107-98 win Wednesday in Game 7 of PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Better cohesion and execution of plays enabled the Tigers to strengthen their defense all throughout to clinch the finals berth for the first time since 2002.

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“I thank God for this victory. My players worked hard on this, we deserved to be in the Finals,” said Powerade coach Bo Perasol, whose squad is the first eighth-seeded team to make it to the Finals in 10 years.

Last year’s top draftee Jayvee Casio joined Gary David and fellow rookie Marcio Lassiter in the scoring spree that gave them as much as a 21-point lead, 84-6,3 in the last 1:42 of the third period.

The 5’9” Casio, a starting guard of the RP Smart Gilas team, started the Tigers’ fiery offense by hitting two triples in the opening quarter, then connected three more treys in the second half to frustrate the Elasto Painters from securing their first Finals stint since 2006.

Coach Bo Perasol’s squad will meet the winner between Talk ‘N Text and Petron Blaze in the best-of-seven Finals starting on Friday in the Davao del Sur Coliseum in Digos City.

The defending champion Tropang Texters and the Blaze Boosters were still playing at press time.

What was expected to be a close game turned out to be lopsided as the Elasto Painters were able to close the gap only in the pivotal period, 105-98, on a 13-5 run ignited by Jeff Chan.

But David and Sean Anthony came back on time to preserve their lead until the buzzer.

Casio topscored for the Tigers with 25 points and five assists, while David finished with 24 and Lassiter had 17.