Oracle sweats before drawing first blood in PBL Finals

MANILA, Philippines - Oracle Residences took some effort in disposing of Pharex in the opener of the PBL PG Flex finals, 79-73, on Tuesday at the San Juan Gymnasium. Rico Maierhofer, Chris Timberlake, and Mark Barroca turned the tide for the Titans, who detonated a 19-4 bomb in the payoff period to erase a five-point deficit and seize a 74-64 tear with over a minute to go. The Bidang Generix, though, was not ready to fold up yet as they clawed back to within three, 71-74 on a putback by Ronnie Matias, 30.2 seconds left. But Oracle would not be denied as Timberlake blocked Francis Allera’s attempt from the arc and later scored on an uncontested layup before Barroca iced the contest with two free-throws. “We played very good defensively but I was not satisfied with the way we closed out the game," Oracle coach Capacio said. “We struggled early but we somehow managed to get out of the hump." Maierhofer, awarded Defensive Stopper of the Year earlier, became an offensive option for the Titans with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. He scored on two consecutive drives in Oracle’s telling fourth period rally, the last one a two-handed slam, 3:49 to go. “Na-take namin challenge nila," he said after the game. “Kailangan naming i-stop iyong transition offense nila dahil iyon lang ang laro nila." Benedict Fernandez topscored for Oracle with 19, firing 10 of them in the third quarter, and Barroca finished with 14, on top of nine rebounds and four assists. Robert Labagala provided support from the bench with 11 markers – eight in the first half - and Timeberlake added eight, scoring all of them in the final canto. The Bidang Generix was led by Matias’ career high of 28 points. Saladaga helped out with 15. The Oracle defense stifled Pharex top gun Chris Ross to only eight points and eight rebounds. Pharex also had only five bench points, all coming from Gester Ebuen. Barroca was supposed to sit out the game to be with the Gilas Pilipinas national team in Japan but showed up unexpectedly for the match upon the request of team owner Mikee Romero to Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Noli Eala. Barroca and fellow RP team member Aldrech Ramos will hook up with their teammates in the Japan tournament on Wednesday instead. Both teams appeared edgy in the first quarter as they combined only for eight of 39 shooting from the field with the Bidang Generix making only 2 of 22 tries for a dismal 9 percent. Oracle’s shooting, however, improved a bit in the second quarter, knocking down 10 of 17 tries but their turnovers stymied their bid to post a comfortable lead as they settled for a 35-37 lead. The Titans turned the ball over 11 times but the Bidang Generix failed to exploit it – no thanks to their poor shooting. –GMANews.TV