2008 FILIPINO BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Team Standings (As of March 16)

                        W     L
Patriots               7     1
Surangel             6     1
Western Union     6     1 
Rangers              6     1
Rams-PDC           4     4
Slashers              3     3
Kumangai           2     5
Axe-Jaguar          2     5
Royal Aces          1     6
Hanpa Hawks      1     6
PRA Choppers     0     6

Surangel needs OT to end Western Union's winning run


SURANGEL & Sons rallied in the second half then forced the game into overtime en route to a 91-88 win over previously undefeated Western Union on Sunday March 16 in the 2008 Pinoy Express Filipino Basketball League at the Palau National Gymnasium.
This even as the Patriots seized the lead with an easy 81-67 victory over the Kumangai Dragons.
The Patriots are now 7-1 while Surangel is tied with Western Union and the Rangers with 6-1.
After lagging behind in the first two quarters, Surangel overcame a 13-point deficit by scoring 32 points in the third quarter while limiting Western Union to 10 for a 65-57 advantage going into the final period.
Western Union, however, momentarily went back into the driver seat that last time at 79-77 on Bong Alambra's lay-up with 10.3 seconds to play but Surangel's Juvic San Juan scored on a putback with 2.8 seconds to end regulation play at 79-all.
In overtime, Surangel scored six of 12 from the free throw line and made three of seven from the field to win.
The score tied for four times, the last time at 87-all with 56 ticks to play.
San Juan sank two free thorws to put Surangel infront at 89-87 with 25 seconds to go then Western Union had the chance to tie anew but Gil Gatchalian missed his second free throw with 11.8 seconds for a 89-88 count.
Regie De Guzman won the rebound after Gatchalian's miss and went on to score the two free throws for Surangel's win.
Gatchalian tried desperation shot from three-point range but failed with Surangel's Cyrus Garino getting a foul from Western Union's Eric Espartero with barely 0.01 seconds left.
Garino failed to sink his two free throws but did not matter.
San Juan led all scorers with 23 points, De Guzman finished with 15, Garino and Manio had 10 and 9.
The leading scorers for Western Union were B. Alambra with 22, Gatchalian 19 and Clemenia 15.
In the other games, defending champion Rangers defeated the Royal Aces, 73-58, while the Hanpa Hawks prevailed over the PRA Choppers, 85-52.
Noel Avenido and Jay Naguit led the Rangers with 23 and 18 while Michael Guevarra added 12.

Patriots bury PRA; PDC Blasters tame Dragons

THERE was no major shake-up in the team standings as last year's runner up Patriots posted the season's most lopsided win, Pacifica Development Corporation won with its new moniker, defending champion Rangers used its game a practice session and Surangel barely escaped the wrath of an equally strong veteran team.
The Patriots made mincemeat of PRA, 105-69, to stay in second place with a 6-1 record behind undefeated Western Union's 6-0 in last Sunday's first of four games in the ongoing first round of elimination in the 2008 Pinoy Express Filipino Basketball Association at the Palau National Gymnasium.
The Patriots scored at will from all angles with their frontline doing all the works to insure the win against no strong opposition from the Choppers, who were further buried in bottom with a 0-5 mark.
Although they could not get their prize of three cases of beer promised by their team manager Bert Lamig if they win by 50 points, the Patriots established their biggest lead of 45 points with the score at 99-54 midway in the fourth quarter. Thus, the Patriots booked their sixth straight win after dropping their first game to the Rangers on opening day.
In a defense oriented match-up, PDC rallied back in time to tame the equally strong newcomer in Kumangai Dragons, 68-62, thus coming home with the best of luck with their new uniforms and a new moniker.
The Rams, now known as the Blasters, engaged the Dragons in a tight battle from start to finish but the foul-troubled and injured Kumangai's tower of power in Mhomar Sismaet proved too costly for them.
The Blasters posted their first back-to-back victory after four sorry losses in their previous games and are now 4-4 and climbed to fifth spot. The Dragons absorbed their fourth setback in six games and remained in seventh place with 2-4.
In the third game, the Rangers' nice shuffling of their players proved effective in beating the Hanpa Hawks, 75-52.
With the win, the Rangers are tied with Surangel with identical 5-1 cards in third to fourth places.
The Hawks remained winless after six outings.
Surangel continued to miss the services of its scoring leader in Arnold Uudecimo as it prevailed over Axe-Jaguar, 88-85, in the day's closest game.
The game ended at 20-all in the first half, 43-all at halftime, 61-63 at the end of third and the Jaguars even led by 10 points at 74-64 with seven minutes and 42 second to go in the game.
In the endgame, the Jaguars missed seven free throws including two from Jun Lanzuela in the final 3.7 seconds as the Jaguars were trying to put the game into overtime.
After the second miss, Eric Manio pulled down the rebound and was fouled  by Lanzuela, who collected his fifth and final foul of the game with 1,2 ticks left.
Manio calmly sank the first of his two free throws for the win.


Western Union keeps winning run; Slashers, Rams, Rangers also win

AS expected, Western Union prevailed over the PRA Choppers, 83-46, while three other teams beat their respective opponents in last Sunday's ongoing first round of the 2008 Pinoy Express Filipino Basketball Association (FBA) tournament at the Palau National Gymnasium.
Western Union thus remained the only unbeaten team with 6-0 while dealing the Choppers' their fourth loss.
Western Union will be on a bye next Sunday March 9. Its next assignment will be against Surangel on March 16, which could be a game to test if the money express specialists' victory run is no fluke.
Earlier on Feb. 24, the newcomers booked their biggest win over the two-time defending champion Rangers. They rallied from an 18-point deficit before coming home to 80-75 triumph.
Their other games will be against the Rams on March 23, the Patriots on April 6 and Axe-Jaguar on April 13.
The Rangers struggled anew against another newcomer before coming home with a 72-63 win over the Kumangai Dragons.
The Rangers, who are now tied with Surangel in third to fourth places with 4-1, opened the game with a 17-0 blast, as they limited Kumangai to just a basket in the first quarter.
The Dragons quickly recovered with its own 24-4 run and found themselves on top at 26-21 count. Three lead changes followed suit with the Dragons led for the last time at 35-33 with four minutes gone by in the third quarter.
Then the Rangers ignited a 15-1 blast for a 48-36 lead that they never relinquished.
The best the Dragons could do in the game was to move within four, 62-68, with 56 seconds to play but they ran out of time and absorbed their third defeat in five games in seventh place.
Another newcomer team giving headaches to the veterans are the Ilongo Slashers, who posted a back-to-back win by beating Axe-Jaguar, 78-70.
The game was close in the first three quarters with several lead changes but the Slashers broke loose with a 64-50 lead in the first three minutes of the fourth on the way to their third win in six games and moved to solo fifth place.
The win was a follow-up to the Slashers 81-74 victory over sixth running Rams-PDC the previous Sunday Feb. 24.
The Rams, however, bounced back with an easy 73-56 victory over the Royal Aces, who skidded to a 1-5 card in ninth spot.

Western Union overcomes huge deficit to stun defending champs

WESTERN Union played like a veteran team on Sunday Feb. 23 as it rallied from a huge 18-point deficit midway in the second half to book its biggest win over the two-time defending champion Rangers, 80-75, in the 2008 Filipino Basketball Association (FBA) games at the Palau National Gymnasium.
One of five newcomers this season, Western Union kept its record clean after five games while dealing the Rangers their first defeat in four outings.
The leading the scorers for Western Union were Tecson 22, Gatchalian 16, Clemenia 15 and Alambra.
Four Rangers also finished with double digits, 2007 rookie of the year Virgilio Agcaoili 17, Noel Avenido 13, Eric Basco 13 and last year's MVP Alvin Soguilon 11.
Three other teams were also in winning form -- second running Patriots, third running Surangel and Sons and the Slashers.
The Patriots streaked to their fifth win as they barely escaped with a thrilling 73-72 decision over Axe-Jaguar.
After controlling the tempo of the game in the first two quarters, the Patriots nearly blew up a 12-point advantage as the Jaguars put them under pressure but failed to muster enough luck and absorbed their second defeat in four matches.
Jun Bautista led the Patriots with 18, including the decisive split free throw in the endgame. Joger Supnet added 11.
The leading scorers for the Jaguars were De Lina 17, Apresto 16 and Lanzuela 13.
Surangel climbed to third place with 4-1 after winning over the hard-fighting Hanpa Hawks, 82-66.
The Hawks further skidded to their fifth straight loss in as many games.
In the other stunner, newcomer Slashers recovered back in time to beat Rams-PDC, 81-74.
The Slashers have improved to 2-3 in seventh while the Rams slipped to 2-4 in eighth.

Rangers axe Jaguars; Rams makes fun of Choppers

THE top four teams last season dispose-off their separate rivals on Sunday Feb. 17 as actions get tougher and rougher in the 2008 Filipino Basketball Association (FBA) at the Palau National Gymnasium.
Two-time defending champion Rangers struggled all day before finally posting their scariest win so far at the expense of Axe Jaguar, 76-72.
The Rangers, who are now 3-0 in third spot, used their championship experience to thwart several attempted rallies by the Jaguars to prevail.
The absence of the heart and soul for both teams due to contrasting reasons was evident in their game.
The Rangers' player-coach George Domingo has been suspended for a month due to his involvement in an on-court fight in their previous game against new comer Hanpa Hawks, whose one of his players also met the same fate.
Two-time reigning MVP Alvin Soguilon reported late at the playing venue and did not also see action.
New recruit Eric Basco and 2007 rookie of the year Virgilio Agcaoili rose to the occasion and led the Rangers with 22 and 18 points, respectively.
With the loss, the Jaguars slipped to fifth place with 2-1.
But while the Rangers fought hard to keep its track going, last year's runner-up Patriots roared to their fourth straight win in five outings by shooting down the Hawks, 106-81.
June Bautista consistently shot underneath and finished 25 while Hener Aguinaldo provided the spark in the Patriots' fastbreak plays and had 20 and Osias added 16 inside.
The Hawks have yet to score their first win in the league with their 0-4 record.
The Patriots (4-1) are half-a game behind an unfamiliar leader in Western Union, which is riding high with a 4-0 clean slate.
In a one-sided match, Rams-PDC made fun of the PRA Choppers, 84-62, to snap a two-game losing skid.
After leading by as much as 22 points at halftime, the Rams set-up all their offensive plays on coach Ponz Mahor, who was able to bury only three of over 20 attempts from three-point range.
At the end of third quarter, the Rams saw their lead chopped to just 13 points going into the fourth period and that point, the Rams although not much bothered adjusted and went on to finished the game and improved their card to 2-3 in seventh place.
Earlier in the first game, Surangel posted a back-to-back win by beating the Royal Aces, 88-71, to stay in fourth place with 3-1 while dealing PRR its fourth setback in five outings.