Sta. Lucia keeps all-Filipino champ TNT winless

MANILA, Philippines – Sta. Lucia survived Talk ‘N Text’s big fourth quarter comeback to hack out a 103-100 win, its first in the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City Thursday night. Import Anthony Johnson scored six straight points as the Realtors wrest back the lead, 102-97, with 27 seconds left as Sta. Lucia (1-1) finally barged into the win column of the import-flavored tournament. The former Philippine Cup champions lost to Burger King in its debut game, 91-83, in last week’s season opener. Johnson finished with a game-high 31 points while Kelly Williams had 16 and Joseph Yeo 14, including a split from the foul line for the game’s marginal score. The Tropang Texters tumbled to their second straight loss in as many games after winning the Philippine Cup title last month. But they almost pulled this one off, battling back from as many as a 16-point deficit (72-88) to regain the lead at 97-96 with 2:38 left in the match after Alapag’s two free throws. Rookie Jared Dillinger and Alapag capped that big Tropang Texters comeback by hitting back-to-back three-pointers. But the Realtors didn’t lose their composure following that big Talk ‘N Text run, opting to go to the 6-foot-5 Johnson who gamely responded by scoring his team’s next six points to put Sta. Lucia safely ahead. Trailing 100-103 in the waning seconds, the Tropang Texters had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Ranidel De Ocampo’s desperate three-point attempt failed to find its mark. Tiras Wade showed the way for Talk `N Text with 29 points. It was a tightly-fought first quarter until Sta. Lucia seized control in the second behind the hot shooting hands of Johnson and Paolo Mendoza, whose scoring spree sparked a 21-8 exchange allowing the Realtors to erase a three-point deficit and take with them a 48-41 lead at the half. Johnson had 10 of his 12 during the period while Mendoza came of the bench to hit three three-pointers. – GMANews.TV