PHOENIX Super LPG racked up its first back-to-back wins of the 46th PBA Philippine Cup after a 114-92 thrashing of winless Blackwater Saturday at the Don Honorio Ventura State U Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Justin Chua dished out 17 points and nine rebounds to complement the usual numbers from Jason Perkins (17) and Matthew Wright (16) and help the Fuel Masters follow up on their 96-84 rout over Terrafirma last Thursday and fan their quarterfinal drive.
The charges of Topex Robinson, who have struggled all tournament, moved up to eighth spot with 4-5 overall.
"We have a lot of things to work on as a team. Good thing is, we have control of our destiny. We just have to grind this out in our last two games," said Robinson.
But the Fuel Masters have to sharpen up even more in the final push with powerhouses San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra standing in the way.
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"This conference has been a challenge but I'm sure there are other guys in the team who are like me who enjoy challenges," said Wright.
"These next two games against great teams are gonna be huge but it's just basketball.
As good as these two teams are, they're gonna have to guard us, too.
"And I think we're slowly gaining momentum. I'm starting to see our team developing our identity offensively and defensively so we're moving into the right track," he said.
The Fuel Masters shrugged off a rather slow start against the Bossing, who even led by 10 early on, 27-17.
Phoenix got back into the thick of things and even took a two-point margin at the turn before coming out of the restart firing to rip the game apart, 82-68.
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The Bossing couldn't recover from there as they fell to their ninth straight setback of the competition. Counting last year's Clark bubble campaign, Blackwater has lost 17 straight games already, which tied them for the second longest losing streak in PBA history with Ginebra's skid spanning the Commissioner's and Governors' Cups in 1995.
Only Great Taste/Presto is longer with 18 from the 1980 Open through the succeeding All-Filipino. (OL)
The Scores:
Phoenix 114 - Perkins 17, Chua 17, Wright 16, Jazul 14, Melecio 11, Banchero 10, Garcia 8, Muyang 7, Manuel 7, Pascual 4, Rios 3, Calisaan 0, Demusis 0, Tamsi 0.
Blackwater 92 - Tolomia 23, Magat 14, Daquioag 10, Enciso 9, Cruz 9, Golla 8, Escoto 6, Canaleta 4, Desiderio 4, Amer 3, Dennison 2, Paras 0, Torralba 0.
Quarters: 22-29, 52-50, 82-68, 114-92.
