Sports Weekly Magazine
June 23-30, 1978
On the Line, Vic Villafranca
Editor’s Note: Two hours before the Toyota-Crispa game last Tuesday, SWM columnist Vic Villafranca looked like he needed a stiff drink. He kept asking everybody: do you think Sports Weekly magazine will taste better with mustard or catsup? The reason for this was a week ago, in the last issue of SWM, Vic had vowed to eat a whole issue of SWM for breakfast if his prediction of a Toyota win by at least four points over Crispa didn’t come true.)
Put away the mustard, Sim and Pyke, you may do the same thing with the catsup.
That’s right, fellows, it’s off – the spectacle of this full-grown columnist chomping on the latest issue of Sports Weekly magazine for breakfast because Tuesday night at the Araneta Coliseum, before a packed house that included a big batch of keelhauled Crispanatics, a fired-up Toyota team, playing as if there’s no tomorrow, unloaded its big bombs against a badly outclassed Crispa outfit, 158 to 135, to round out its qualifying round playdates with a 12-2 won loss record.
It was the same record posted by the chastised Crispa Redmanizers for the same stretch – Crispa’s first loss coming off an opening day setback to the U/Tex Wranglers, and its second, the drubbing that was almost cold-bloodedly administered Tuesday by Toyota.
As for the Tamaraws, their two losses came at the hands of the Redmanizers in the first round and to the Tanduay Esquires Friday last week in an out-of-town match in Davao.
So the two ballclubs, both of whom had wrapped up semifinal berths earlier than usual, came to the end of their respective qualifying round campaigns all square, although it seemed Toyota had all the more reasons to whoop it up with what they pulled off before a turn-away crowd estimated at 25,000 at the Big Dome.
It was murder; plain, unadulterated murder.
Playing as if in one evening they intended to make up for the humiliating that they suffered in Davao and, a month earlier, in Manila, the numbing aftermath of a crushing setback to the Redmanizers, Coach Dante Silverio’s boy went full steam all the way against Crispa in their second meeting with the Redmanizers this season to walk off the hardcourt with their prestige back in their pockets.
Right from that time late in the first quarter when they pulled away by as much as 17 points, the back-with-a-vengeance Tamaraws never gave the Redmanizers a chance to breathe.
The first period ended with Toyota’s lead down to 11 points on two quick hits by Philip Cezar and Tito Varela, but when Sonny Jaworski and Danny Florencio opened the second quarter with two completed fast break plays, the Tamaraws were again off and running.
After two minutes, Toyota’s bulge had ballooned anew to 17, then 20 and all the way up to 23 when Francis Arnaiz, back in the groove as Toyota’s best clutch hitter, teamed up with Estoy Estrada and Jaworski to touch off an 11-4 Toyota blast that closed out the first half at 78-57.
In the third quarter, the game assumed the character of a public slaughter of the once-dreaded Redmanizers when the Tamaraws relentlessly banged in 45 points against Crispa’s 26 to bust the match wide open going into the final period.
In this torrid third, it was the “old” Toyota gang of Jaworski, Arnaiz and Ramon Fernandez who presided over the carnage. By the time the buzzer sounded, the Tamaraws were way out in Bangkok by 30 points.
From this point on, it was all downhill for the Tamaraws although earlier in the fourth, the game was threatened by a melee and with 8:33 left, the Redmanizers had attempted a last gasp turnaround by bringing down Toyota’s lead to 21 points.
The Redmanizers, however, never got farther than that because promptly, the Tamaraws unleashed a 12-4 barrage that sent Toyota’s lead up again to 31. Toyota’s margin of victory eventually settled at 23, which was deceptive because until the game swung into a you-shoot contest, the Tamaraws were wielding the axe at will on a hapless Crispa team.
As in their previous encounters, the latest episode in the four-year old running gun battle between the two ballclubs was staged amid the pressure cooker atmosphere of an epic struggle.
Standings-wise, the match was a no-bearing affair since both teams had assured themselves of semifinal round berths as early as the third playdate of the second round of the double-round qualifying run. Just the same, they went at each other’s throats as if Tuesday night was already championship night.
As in so many Toyota-Crispa encounters, Tuesday’s night fever pitch confrontation was not without its share of tense moments and its roster of players sent out of the hardcourt due to injuries or by allowing their tempers to run amuck.
For Crispa, the injury list was headed by Abet Guidaben, the Redmanizers’ 6’5 center, who suffered a busted jaw when he got hit by Fernandez as he was driving in for a lay-up. Toyota’s loss was Fort Acuña, who was thrown out of the ballgame when he touched off a melee after 1:25 in the final quarter.
Jaworski was earlier sidelines because of a sprained ankle, but turned out not to be a serious injury because Jaworski was able to get back into the game. Fernandez had his lip split, but this didn’t stop him from finishing the game.
By dealing the defending PBA All-Filipino champions the worst beating ever administered to Crispa this season, Toyota fully settled a two-month old score with the Redmanizers.
But more than this, the Tamaraws, who are shooting for their second All-Filipino tournament championship, have emerged from the grey shadow of their two qualifying round losses and established themselves anew as the team most likely to win what is often known as the most prestigious title of the year-round PBA series.
One runaway decision over Crispa doesn’t of course mean they’ve got it made, but with that awesome run and gun performance the Tamaraws have left no doubt about their being the most awesome ballclub in the All-Filipino when they are on. As undoubtedly and convincingly they were Tuesday night at the Big Dome when they all but reduced the Redmanizers to the category of a pedestrian that got hit by a runaway truck and never got to know what really hit them until it was time to take off their casts.
Quote unquote –
Atoy Co, upon reading SWM’s prediction of a Toyota win by at least four points: “Because of that, we’re going to beat Toyota.”
Coach Dante Silverio, a week before the Tams went up against Crispa: “We’re going to beat them, Buddy.”
Crispa owner and manager, Danny Floro, when asked if he was “nervous” about the outcome of the second Crispa-Toyota game in the All-Filipino: “I am always very nervous when we play Toyota.”
Crispanatic, Naty Redublo, on SWM’s prediction: “So you think Toyota is gonna beat us by four points, huh? Man, you must be dreaming or out of your mind.”
