Friday, January 05, 2007 Realtors try luck in PBA wild card race
AFTER bungling their chance to book the last quarterfinal berth in the Talk ’N Text PBA Philippine Cup the other day, the Sta. Lucia Realtors will try to stay alive in the conference as they start their campaign in the wildcard phase against the Air21 Express in the wildcard phase.
The Alaska Aces and the Coca Cola Tigers, for their parts, will also try to survive in the conference as they battle each other in the main game.
After an excellent start in this conference, the erstwhile league-leading Realtors found themselves deep in trouble as they failed to arrest their free-fall as the conference progressed.
The Realtors’ troubles came to a head Wednesday after they were beaten by the defending champion Purefoods Chunkee Giants, 92-78, as the former squandered an early 17-point edge and allowed the Giants to take the last automatic quarterfinals berth.
Their sixth loss in their last seven outings meant the Realtors are now relegated to the wildcard phase, where they will carry with them their 10-8 record and take on the Aces (8-10), Express (7-10) and the Tigers (5-13) in a single round robin.
Regulars
Sta. Lucia coach Alfrancis Chua is again expected to put all his hopes on his veteran players in Marlou Aquino, Kenneth Duremdes and Dennis Espino as well as on Fil-Am rookies Alex Cabagnot and Kelly Williams as they face Niño Canaleta, Yancy and Ranidel de Ocampo, Mark Telan, Winnie Arboleda and the rest of the Express. (JSV)
