Two more teams bit the dust last night in the PBA wildcards, with Sta. Lucia and Purefoods knocking off Coca-Cola and Talk N Text respectively.

I was actually in the house for the doubleheader, and I had nice seats near the baseline corner, about fifteen feet away from one of the benches. Sta. Lucia won pretty handily against Coke, 94-88, with import Anthony Johnson leading the way with . Johnson's monster game made up for the absence of Kelly Williams and the subpar games from Sta. Lucia big men Marlou Aquino and Dennis Espino, who both battled foul trouble the whole game while trying to contain the massive Coke frontline led by Asi Taulava.

But the real key to the game was the play of the Realtors' backcourt, Ryan Reyes, Denok Miranda, and Joseph Yeo, who sliced and diced their way to the hoop. Even if those guys were not able to finish at the rim, it certainly put the Tigers' big men out of position, allowing Johnson to grab 11 offensive rebounds for easy scores around the basket. The Coke guards, Alex Cabagnot and Ronjay Buenafe, allowed more penetration last night than the women on Hayden Kho's video collection. It remains to be seen though if Sta. Lucia's pit bulls can do that against Burger King in the next round, which has a tougher backcourt with Wynne Arboleda and Gary David.

I also came away very, very impressed with Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez's steady demeanor on the sidelines last night. He didn't panic when the Tigers made a run to take a double-digit lead in the third quarter, nor did he get rattled when Aquino and Espino both fouled out late in the game. His team obviously has his ear and he never has to chew out any players to make a point, and the team's faith on him looks well-placed because he really prepared them well for last night's game.

Purefoods, meanwhile, survived Talk N Text in double-overtime, 126-123. I wasn't able to cheer much for Purefoods because my seat was right next to the Tropang Texters bench, and just beside the TNT tranny cheeleading section. They actually had a few zingers last night for the Purefoods players; I actually chuckled when their leader shouted, "Hoy, mag-model ka na lang ng La Coste!" at Purefoods scorer Peter June Simon, a renowned ballhog in the tradition of Jojo Lastimosa and Ato Agustin. I think the trannies probably know more about PBA basketball than Quinito Henson.

While I wasn't able to participate in the booing of Mac Cardona, my seat did me a spectacular of the Talk N Text bench. (Well, except in the fourth quarter when Pong Escobal and Gilbert Lao kept standing up to block my view. Stupid benchwarmers.) As I noted on Twitter last night, Chot Reyes' tight-fit shirts accentuate his figure. Especially his boobs.

After the jump, lots and lots of thoughts about the epic game:

- I love, love, love rooting against Talk N Text. What a thoroughly unlikeable bunch, and you know what? I think it's great for the league. We haven't had a true villain team since the Swift teams from the early '90s (the Red Bull teams from the past couple of years would have been good candidates, but they kept selling their players). Both teams have the arrogant coach (Yeng Guiao/Chot Reyes) and the obnoxious superstar (Nelson Asaytono/Mac Cardona), and they're good enough to be worth rooting against. Now we just need to get the 2009 version of Tony Harris on that team.

- Mac Cardona gets a lot of cheap points, and I don't mean that as a bad thing at all. In the first half last night, he had 17 points, and the only points then that came on their halfcourt sets were a couple of long three-pointers. He scored the rest of his points on fast break leak-outs, broken plays, and putbacks from offensive rebounds. Just a great offensive player, and again, what an absolute douchebag.

- Purefoods is the only team in the league that wins ballgames in spite of their coaching staff. The reason I picked Talk N Text to win last night was because I really don't trust Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio--I've been burned too many times. Last night, Gregorio subbed in Marquin Chandler, who had 5 fouls, with about 5 minutes in, and assigned him to guard Talk N Text import Rashad Bell. On the very next play, Bell attacked Chandler's defense and drew Chandler's last foul, so Purefoods had to play the last 4 minutes of regulation and the two overtime periods without their import.

- It's also on Ryan Gregorio that the team has to work so hard in the halfcourt to score points. A team with Kerby Raymundo, James Yap, and Peter June Simon shouldn't have to bleed for its points all the damn time.

- Meanwhile, both coaches called timeouts in the closing seconds last night to draw up top-of-the-key isolation plays. "Give the ball to James Yap/Rashad Bell/Peter June Simon/Mac Cardona, and get the hell out of the way." Really, they needed a timeout for those?

- When you're a Purefoods fan, you have to accept this basic truth: Kerby Raymundo giveth, and Kerby Raymundo taketh away. He posted monster numbers with 33 points and 10 rebounds while playing lockdown defense of Bell, but he also hoisted up a ton of bad shots down the stretch that almost cost the team the game. He was the one who tied the game in regulation with a potential four-point play, but he muffed the free throw that would have won the game. With Kerby, you take the good with the bad.

- James Yap is reportedly still suffering from the effects of a viral infection, which leads me to wonder, just what kind viral infection is that? It's been two weeks! He had an up-and-down game last night, starting off strong with 9 points in the first half, then going scoreless in the second half, before heating up again by pouring in 12 points in the two overtime periods.

- Also, I had a hard time getting out of the coliseum last night after the game because people were blocking the courtside exits to get their picture taken with a celebrity. Which celebrity? Baby James.

- Rich Alvarez played really well last night, filling in the Marc Pingris role that he was originally brought in for in the first place. I will never understand why Gregorio played KG Canaleta ahead of him all conference long, but leave it up to the Purefoods coach to go with the wussy guy who's allergic to contact instead of the intesnse warrior who bangs bodies in the lane.

- Oh, and let me just say that for the last few years, Roger Yap has been my favorite Purefoods player. He's not really a true point guard, and he hasn't been a consistent shooter, but he is a true winner. Last night, he came up with a bunch of big plays, most of which would not show up in the box score; he's our glue guy. He also shut down Cardona, whose only points in the second half and overtime were a couple of long, fadeaway three-pointers. He's so underrated that he's never mentioned as one of the best defensive guards in the league, which he is. Last night, he was also the one who made the go-ahead free throws in the second overtime.

He's also an old school bad-ass, a throwback to guys like Bernie Fabiosa, Frankie Lim, and Al Solis: a big physical guard who's not afraid to mix it up with anyone or get in opponents' faces. My favorite Yap moment was when he gave LA Tenorio a hard hit in the midsection during for flopping around too much, after which Tenorio crumpled to the floor (although that overacting runt probably milked it for what it's worth). Sure, he was thrown out and was even suspended a game, but man, Roger Yap sure gave that little fucker what he deserved.