PETRON Blaze should give itself a pat on the back for not pushing through with the decision to
replace Nick Fazekas.
Fazekas scored a season-high 45 points to go with 22 rebounds in winning his matchup against Marcus
Douthit and powering Petron Blaze past Air21, 102-88, Wednesday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fazekas' production was highlighted by several scoring sprees, the most crucial coming in the fourth
period that enabled the Boosters to withstand the absence of a couple of injured teammates and fully
quash the Express' final threat.
Not bad for someone whom coach Ato Agustin and management thought of replacing after they lost their
first two games in the mid-season tourney.
"Napag-usapan talaga iyon pero hindi muna itinuloy. We decided na bigyan pa siya ng tsansa," related
Agustin.
"Sa ngayon hindi na namin talaga siya papalitan," insisted Agustin. "Unless, of course, masugatan,
na huwag naman sana."
Fazekas did not disappoint by coming up with game-highs of 23 points and 16 rebounds in a
breakthrough win against B-MEG before last night's impressive showing that eclipsed by three points
Powerade forward Gary David's previous season-best set in the Philippine Cup.
Thus, despite the absnce of Chris Lutz (hamstring) and Rabeh Al-Hussaini (plantar fasciitis) Petron
won its second straight game.
"I had a pretty good night," said the 6-foot-11 former NBA campaigner who shot 14-for-21 from the
floor and missed only four of 21 free throw attempts.
"I was expecting a tough game because of Douthit, but my shots were falling and I also got the
support of my teammates," added Fazekas.
Douthit, the former Smart-Gilas reinforcement, did not fare badly either with 23 points, as many
boards as Fazekas' and six assists. But he made only eight of 27 field attempts and had a shot
swatted away by Fazekas and Arwind Santos.
Alex Cabagnot came off the bench to finish with 13 points and a gamehigh nine assists while Santos
had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Starting at the point guard spot, Denok Miranda also had 12 points and seven feeds. Jojo Duncil, RJ
Jazul, Ren-Ren Ritualo and Mark Isip tried to lend Douthit support with at least 10 points each, but
Air21 as a whole failed to muster the final push needed and thus failed to follow up its
breakthrough 97-88 win over Barako Bull last Feb. 19.
All because of Fazekas, who joined hands with Santos and Cabagnot in boosting Petron out of an 81-79
count and into a safer 91-81 lead. His three-point play off Douthit gave the Boosters their first
14-point lead at 100-86, only 40 seconds left to play.
The Express pounced on the opportunity every time Fazekas has to be rested, gaining the momentum to
whittle what was once a 10-point deficit to just 69-72 going to the last quarter.
Much like what it did against Barako, Air21 started off hot and raced to an early 34-24 spread
before Fazekas came in and promptly scattered 12 points to lead Petron back and help make it a 48-39
halftime count. (NC)
The scores:
PETRON 102 - Fazekas 45, Cabagnot 13, Santos 12, Miranda 12, Ildefonso 7, Agustin 6, Yeo 3, Doruelo
2, Tugade 2, Reyes 0.
AIR21 88 - Douthit 23, Duncil 18, Jazul 12, Ritualo 12, Isip 10, Omolon 6, Sison 4, Sena 2, Hubalde
1, Escobal 0, Aquino 0.
Quarterscores: 22-27, 48-39, 72-69, 102-88
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