David falls short in crunch time

Gary David completed some sort of a milestone in his career but was the goat in the Powerade Tigers’ 94-96 loss against the B-Meg Llamados last night in the 37th PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

David scored a team-high 25 points to become the 64th player to join the 5,000-point club.

But the prolific guard failed to save the Tigers, faltering at the freethrow line in the final 5.1 seconds that could have turned things around for his team.

Instead, the Llamados escaped with a win that assured them of a playoff for an outright semis berth after finishing the elimination round with six wins and three losses.

B-Meg could clinch an outright semis spot should Talk ‘N Text lose its last game against Ginebra and the Kings split their last two games.

Talk ‘N Text, which leads the standings with six wins and two losses, are also already assured of a playoff for a semis berth.

Down by three points, 93-96, the Tigers had a chance to tie the game when David was fouled by B-Meg’s import Denzel Bowles while he was attempting a three-point shot.

A steady free throw shooter, David missed his first free throw much to the disappoint ment of the Powerade squad.

David made the next attempt and purposely missed his third shot. The gamble almost paid off when Dwayne Jones and Sean Anthony grabbed two straight offensive rebounds but both failed to convert their follow-up attempts as time expired.

Bowles led the Llamados with 29 points while Josh Urbiztondo and James Yap scored 15 points each.

BOX SCORES

B-MEG (96)- Bowles 29, Urbiztondo 15, Yap 15, Pingris 12, Simon 7, Intal 6, Reavis 4, De Ocampo 4,

Barroca 2, Villanueva 2.

POWERADE (94)- David 25, Lassiter 17, Jones 11, Anthony 11, Kramer 9, Casio 8, Antonio 5, Lingganay 3, Allera 2, Cruz 2, Adducul 1, Vanlandingham 0.