BY NOLI CORTEZ

COCA-Cola did a Zeus last night, striking down Talk N Text with a second thunderbolt in three days to inch closer to a quarterfinals berth in the Smart PBA Philippine Cup at the Astrodome.

Former Phone Pals Mark Telan and Asi Taulava came up big as the Tigers posted a stunning 81-73 win that shoved them into another knockout game tomorrow against the winner of the other wildcard pairing between Ginebra and Air21 still being played at press time.

Telan finished with 22 points and nine rebounds while had Taulava 13 and a game-high 16 in No. 9 seed Coke’s big follow-up to its 101-85 upset win over fifth-ranked TNT that dragged the latter down to the wildcard phase.

"We wouldn’t be here without these two guys," said Tigers coach Binky Favis, referring to his two front-liners who would like nothing better than to show up the same TNT team that seemingly gave up on them.

Telan admitted as much.

"Ang mentality namin ni Asi coming into these (two games), we really wanted to kill Talk N Text," said Telan, who turned 32 last week.

Taulava, who was admonished by Coke management for saying some derogatory remarks about the Phone Pals after their Wednesday win, just couldn’t help himself.

"Nothing personal, but I just wanted to prove something," said Taulava, who is sure to get into hotter water with his remark after learning that Victor Pablo, another former TNT player left unsigned before the season, is now with Ginebra.

"We’re pretty scattered around. But we’re still in the playoffs and look where they (TNT) are right now," he said with a chuckle.

Mark Cardona finished with 22 points and Ali Peek 14 points and seven rebounds, but TNT still found itself trailing from start to finish to wind up with its second straight lowest output in the conference.

As a result, the Phone Pals found themselves out of the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2006 Philippine Cup.

It’s not that coach Derick Pumaren’s charges did not try. After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, the Phone Pals crept to within 37-38 at the half and were still tantalizingly just down by 71-73 on a lay-up by Harvey Carey.

But Ronjay Buenafe scored six points and Telan two in a sizzling windup that sealed TNT’s fate.

Favis just hopes his charges keep up their energy and keep on surprising other teams.