Petron SMASH!

Even new recruit Doug Kramer's bought
into the Petron system
(Photo courtesy of PBA InterAKTV)

Hell hath no fury like a couple of scorned Gilas hopefuls

That was the message sent by the Petron Blaze Boosters last night en route to their 122-88 trashing of heated rival Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters. The Texters, which boasts of four core Gilas players (not to mention the brain/financial thrust) , were never really in it no thanks to the Boosters' unforgiving defense and high octane, sweet-shooting offense.

On the Boosters front you have Gilas hopefuls: Arwind Santos (14 points), Alex Cabagnot (20) and Marcio Lassiter (18) not to mention guys like Chris Lutz and Doug Kramer plus "future" Gilas cornerstone Junemar Fajardo.

The "message" was so obvious that Ronald Tubid found it in himself to go back to his dirty ways and give FIBA Asia's best point guard Jayson Castro a parting jab in the 4th quarter with the Boosters' lead already in the 30s. It should also be noted that Boosters' head coach Gee Abanilla chose to keep his import, Elijah Millsap, in the game even if they were already up big. Kudos to Texters' head coach Norman Black for not sending out any one of his enforcers to give the hard-working import some "love" (as is the norm in old school Pinoy basketball).

Looking forward, the Boosters are sitting pretty atop the PBA Governor's Cup standings with an impressive 6-1 record while the Texters are at the cellar with a 2-4 slate which puts them in a tough position to move into the playoffs.

Hard to imagine a PBA Playoffs without the Texters but we all knew that the Gilas Pilipinas program has its pros and cons. Right now, we're looking at tired yet valiant plays in Jimmy Alapag, Larry Fonacier, Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo. That's not an excuse, that's reality. And against a team that has an added chip on its shoulder such as the Boosters, they didn't really stand a chance going into last night's game.

Also, and honestly, we can't help but feel good for the Boosters-- Santos and Cabagnot specially, since this team has always been good enough to win a title or two the last few seasons. Just a matter of injuries and drama.