1995 Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs season

The 1995 Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs season was the 8th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Draft picks

Off-season transactions

Summary

All-Filipino Cup: The Tender Juicy Hotdogs finished the eliminations with an even 5-5 won-loss card. On March 14, the Hotdogs' defense held Pepsi Mega to a lowest output in a 73-58 win, ^[1] two weeks after on March 28, the Hotdogs limited San Miguel Beer this time to only 67 points in an 80-67 victory. ^[2] Purefoods clinch a playoff for the second finals berth on April 30, ousting Sta.Lucia Realtors, 92-90, for their 10th win in 17 games. The Hotdogs were forced into a sudden-death playoff by Alaska Milkmen and were booted out in the All-Filipino Cup finals for the first time since joining the league in 1988, losing to the Milkmen, 89-115, in a knockout game on May 5. The Hotdogs were swept in two games by Sta.Lucia Realtors in their best-of-three series for third place.

Commissioner's Cup: Last year's best import awardee Kenny Redfield, who led the Hotdogs to a championship, was not available on time and Purefoods had to settle for Adrian Branch as their import in their first two games. Branch debut with 40 points in the Hotdogs' 98-104 loss to Sunkist on June 11. After three games and still winless at 0-3, Kenny Redfield returns and replaces Branch. Redfield led the Hotdogs to their first win against Pepsi Mega, 92-84 in Cabanatuan City on June 24. ^[3] Purefoods won five of their next six games in the elimination round and handed the Sunkist Orange Juicers their first loss after nine straight wins in a 91-81 victory on the final day of the elimination round on July 18. In the six-team carry-over quarterfinals, Purefoods started out with two straight wins, first with Sta.Lucia, 83-81 on July 25, ^[4] and repeated over Sunkist, 85-80 on July 28, ^[5] the Hotdogs lost their next two outings before making it to the final four, eliminating the San Miguel Beermen, 104-103 in overtime on August 6, as Alvin Patrimonio tallied 36 points. In the best-of-five semifinal series against Sunkist Orange Juicers, the Hotdogs forces a deciding fifth game, coming back from 15 points down early in the second quarter of Game four to win by a big margin in the final period. In Game five, Purefoods trailed by 16 points with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter but battled back to close the gap within three points before eventually losing, 99-105 to Sunkist. The Hotdogs missed out a finals stint for the second straight conference in the season, the first time in franchise history.

Governors Cup: Former San Miguel import Jay Taylor, who last played in 1992, was Purefoods' reinforcement. The Hotdogs placed second in the eliminations, tied with Alaska Milkmen with 7 wins and 3 losses and a game behind leader Sunkist Orange Juicers. Taylor played in their first four games in the semifinals in which they lost three of their matches that hurt their chances, Taylor was replaced by Gerrod Abram, who could only lead the team to one win in four games he played as Purefoods bowed out in fifth place, missing all three championships contested in the year.

Roster

Pos. No. Player School F 1 Bong Ravena UE F 5 Edmund Reyes UST F 7 Rey Evangelista UST G 8 Emilio Chuatico Ateneo de Manila F 9 Peter Naron University of Visayas F 10 Joselito Martin NCBA G 11 Richie Ticzon Ateneo de Manila G 12 Glenn Capacio FEU F 16 Alvin Patrimonio Mapua Tech G 17 Olsen Racela Ateneo de Manila F 19 Alejandro Lim University of Visayas C 41 Edgar Tanuan FEU C 44 Jerry Codinera UE F 24 Adrian Branch (C) University of Maryland F 3 Kenny Redfield (C) Michigan State University G 24 Jay Taylor (G) Eastern Illinois University G Gerrod Abram (G) Boston University Position Name/s Head coach:  Chot Reyes Assistants: Eric Altamirano (C) - Commissioner's Cup import, (G) - Governor's Cup import '

_{Team Manager: Teddy Dimayuga}

References