7 Barakos in double figures

Red Bull is rallying in the homestretch.

Carlo Sharma put in a career-high 22 points with six other Barakos adding at least 10 each as they stayed within striking distance of the Coca-Cola Tigers in their battle for the last slot in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup wildcard round with a 98-88 win over the Air21 Express Friday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Coca-Cola clobbered San Miguel Beer, 105-91, earlier in the day but the Barakos kept the Tigers within sight on their first successive wins in a long while that jacked up their record to 5-11.


"Mukhang manipis pa rin ang chance namin but it'd been a long, long time since we had a streak and we want to savor this. There's no substitute for the feeling of winning, kahit kulelat ka," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao.

"Buhay pa ang tsansa and we'll stay fighting as hard as we can. We're not beating pushover teams. We're beating tough teams," said Guiao after their back-to-back wins over Alaska Milk and Air21.

As in their game against the Aces, the Barakos came out strong and showed staying power to pull off the crucial win.

"I think the maturity of our young players is getting better. Tumatagal na kami ng four quarters, dati three quarters lang," said Guiao.

The Express, who fell behind by as many as 16, went short in their comeback bid in the fourth quarter and slid to joint fifth with the Sta. Lucia Realtors at 8-8.

Homer Se hurt his right knee early in the game and sat out the last three quarters of the contest.

Red Bull also missed a key player in Mike Holper but practically the entire team stepped up in notching its first successive wins after a three-game run in a 11-day stretch starting last Oct. 19.

Sharma matched his previous season high of 18 right in the first half and went on to establish a new career best, erasing his old mark of 21.

The 6-foot-6 center out of La Salle made his last basket with a little over two minutes left to play, sparking a decisive seven-to-nothing tear that pushed Red Bull back in control at 91-83.

Cyrus Baguio knocked in 15, including nine in the homestretch, helping the team seal the win.

Larry Rodriguez, Jojo Duncil, Paolo Hubalde, Jeff Chan and Gabby Espinas were the other Barakos who finished in double figures.

Ranidel de Ocampo paced the Express with 21 points that went with nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks. (NC)

The scores:

Red Bull 98 - Sharma 22, Baguio 15, Rodriguez 14, Duncil 13, Hubalde 11, Chan 10, Espinas 10, Najorda 2, Cruz 1, Ybanez 0, Hrabak 0.

Air21 88 - De Ocampo 21, David 17, Intal 13, Santos 13, Canaleta 11, Arboleda 5, Kramer 2, Cruz 2, Billones 2, Se 2, Quinahan 0, Sta. Maria 0.

Quarterscores: 30-26, 54-46, 72-67, 98-88


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