AFTER MAKING noise with a pair of stirring victories, the Air21 Express are back to their losing ways after they absorbed a second straight setback with a lopsided 92-121 defeat against the Powerade Tigers last night in the 37th PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Express failed to sustain the momentum that they built a week ago and now found themselves in tight situation in the race for a playoff spot.
Air21 scored huge wins against the defending champions Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters (89-78) and the Alaska Aces (88-85) before they were stopped by the league-worst Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 83-113, last Friday.
The Express couldn’t make the needed adjustments against the Tigers as they failed to recover from a slow start to handily give the win to their opponents.
Powerade practically settled the outcome of the contest after building a huge 87-63 lead after three quarters of play. The loss pulled the Express down to sixth place, joining the Petron Blaze Boosters and the Barako Bull Energy with identical 3-4 (win-loss) records.
Recovering from a 97-111 loss to the Texters last Wednesday, the Tigers moved up to solo third place with their fourth win in seven games./EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA