Pharex earns top seeding in PBL semis round

Pharex B Complex played with more sense of urgency to beat former co-leader Excelroof, 74-68, in Tuesday’s 2010 PBL PG Flex-Erase Placenta Cup at The Arena in San Juan City. Pharex, composed mostly of players from the UP Fighting Maroons, secured the number one seeding and the twice to beat advantage in the semifinal round of the season-opening conference. Woody Co, Mark Lopez and Ford Arao teamed up to secure the win making key free throws down the stretch to foil Excelroof’s comeback bid after the 25ers managed to trim a 13-point deficit (64-51) down to two, 69-67.

"Hats off to Excelroof for really playing very well. But fortunately for us, we were able to make the stops and made the free throws when it counted and that spelled the difference for this game," said Pharex coach Aboy Castro, who steered the Fighting Maroons to a league best 6-1 record after the single elimination round. Pascual Laboratories’ second team, Ascof Lagundi being the other one, thus needs only to win once to earn a finals ticket. “I was really confident that we will reach the top four and making it as number one is a blessing. But we want to enter the finals so I expect the team to play better especially on Saturday," added Castro. Co finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while Lopez added 12 markers to go with six boards, three assists and blocked three shots. Arao netted 11 points and seven with Marlon Adolfo contributing 10 markers. Vic Manuel, who’s one of the 25ers’ main offensive threats, was slowed down by foul trouble and was limited to just eight points and three rebounds. Calvin Abueva, who along with Manuel helped energized Excelroof’s campaign in the short conference, was also not in his usual game due to foul trouble ending up with two points and five rebounds. He fouled out with still more than five minutes left in the game. John Raymundo scored 17 points while Jimbo Aquino and Andrian Celada added 16 and 13 each for the Renato Agustin-mentored 25ers. Excelroof’s 27 turnovers also failed to advance its cause against Pharex as the Maroons posted a 37-19 edge in TO points. Pharex led from the start but could not easily dispatch their rivals as they failed to play consistently the entire match. The Maroons built a 19-point spread at 24-4 early in the second quarter and even enjoyed a comfortable 64-51 edge with 4:17 left in the third period but allowed the 25ers to slowly claw back in the contest. Raymundo fired seven straight points in that stretch and issued a nifty pass to an unmanned Ian Sanggalang who in return scored an easy undergoal stab that moved Excelroof within two, 69-67, with 20.3 ticks left in the game clock. Excelroof fouled Lopez hoping the UP guard would miss the free throws after failing to make a single attempt in earlier trip at the foul line. He atoned for the early misses when he made both free throws to secure the victory. – GMANews.TV