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This Day in PBA History: Purefoods nips expansion squad Pepsi 182-178 in 3OTs

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Rey Joble

More than 3 decades ago, the Philippine Basketball Association welcomed two new expansion squads to the pro league — Pop Cola from the RFM franchise and Pepsi Cola.Over the past few years prior to 1990, the league was reduced to only 6 teams, and occasionally 7, each time the national squad would participate as guest team.But on this day in PBA history, October 4, 1990, Pepsi, carrying the moniker Hotshots, was given a baptism of fire when it played one of the longest games ever.The Hotdogs and the Hotshots battled it out in a triple overtime with Purefoods winning, 182-178. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/03/21/this-day-in-pba-history-codiera-sets-blocks-record">This Day in PBA History: The story behind Jerry Codiñera’s record 11 shot blocks</a></li></ul>Pepsi set the record for the highest output for a losing squad. The team was originally coached by the late great Ed Ocampo, but was replaced by Derrick Pumaren in the season-ending Third Conference and one of the biggest acquisitions made by the squad was 2-time Most Valuable Player Abet Guidaben. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/02/21/this-day-in-pba-history-the-spit-that-triggered-scuffle">This Day in PBA History: Rivals Fabiosa of Crispa, Arnaiz of Toyota at center of near free-for-all</a></li></ul>Guidaben, a member of two Grand Slam teams of Crispa and likewise won titles with San Miguel Beer, joined the other veterans in the squad such as Ricky Relosa, Ponky Alolor, and former Beermen teammates Tonichio Yturri and Jeffrey Graves.Relosa, Yturri, Graves and Alolor were picked in the dispersal draft.Joey Loyzaga, a member of multiple champion squads of Ginebra/Añejo, was also selected in the dispersal draft along with Harmon Codiñera, but both of them were traded to separate teams. Loyzaga was shipped to Pop Cola while Codiñera was sent to Alaska in exchange for Guidaben.Pepsi Cola selected Jun Reyes, younger brother of Chot Reyes, who was an integral part of Ateneo’s back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, as its third overall pick. The team also took in Vernie Villarias, cousin of Bong Ravena, and Carlito Mejos, whose draft rights were acquired from Purefoods.Purefoods, on the other hand, had its usual stacked lineup, but was still searching for its first ever title. Several times, the Hotdogs reached the finals, including the All-Filipino Conference of that season, a tournament which could have won by the squad, but lost it to the Allan Caidic-less Presto Tivolis in Game 7 of the title series.The Hotdogs still had their core built around Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Nelson Asaytono, Glenn Capacio, Dindo Pumaren and Al Solis among others. Jerry Codiñera missed a majority of the conference as he is still battling hepatitis.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/13/21/this-day-in-pba-history-the-first-manila-clasico-final">This Day in PBA History: Ginebra nips Purefoods to win All-Filipino in first Manila Clasico final</a></li></ul>“The Maestro”, head coach Baby Dalupan, also brought in his old wards to Purefoods from Crispa — Bernie Fabiosa and Bai Cristobal — then selected Gido Babilonia in the first round and Louie Alas, who was left unsigned after he suffered a career-ending ACL.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/07/21/this-day-in-pba-history-meneses-swift-soar-to-title">This Day in PBA History: Vergel Meneses, Swift beats rival Purefoods to rule Commissioner’s Cup</a></li></ul>Pepsi Cola’s imports were Jeff Hodge and Alyun Taylor, who was later on replaced by former Hills Brothers import Jose Slaughter.Purefoods was bannered by returning import Darren Queenan, who previously played for Ginebra and Walker Russell, the exciting reinforcement who dazzled the crowd with his play making.Russell, however, was replaced by Rob Rose, an import who proved to be a good fit as he plays the interior and fills the void left by Codiñera.But when the Hotdogs battled the Hotshots 31 years ago, the more favored Purefoods squad was pushed to the limit.“I think so,” Pumaren replied in a text message to ABS-CBN News when asked if this is the first triple overtime game he coached. “I inherited the Pepsi team from the late great Ed Ocampo. It’s an expansion team. Kung ano lang ’yung makukuha. Then nagkaroon kami ng kaunting buildup. We got Abet Guidaben, then later on I was able to get Manny Victorino, Eugene Quilban and Gido Babilonia.”“But that Third Conference team, I inherited it from the Coach Ed.”<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/03/21/this-day-in-pba-history-jaworski-joins-10000-points-club">This Day in PBA History: Jaworski joins 10,000 points club</a></li></ul>That Pepsi team had a winless campaign, losing all its 10 games and ended up dead last, but two years after following the inclusion of Victorino, Quilban and Babilonia, Pepsi, then carrying the brand name 7-Up, would go on to play for its first ever finals appearance with Dell Demps as its import, before being swept by Tony Harris and the Swift Mighty Meaties team in the championship round. <div>Rey Joble is a sportswriter who has been covering the PBA since 1998, and a fan of the league way before that. </div><div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1718645" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Scoring 178 points normally guarantees victory, but that was not the case in Pepsi’s triple-overtime loss to Purefoods.