AFTER firing blanks in the first half, Coca-Cola suddenly waxed hot in the third and fourth quarters last night to whip erstwhile solo leader Red Bull 102-80 and force a three-way tie for the lead in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

The Tigers battled back from a 13-point deficit and went on a 23-3 run highlighted by four triples to seize control at 77-63 and never looked back on its way to the win, their seventh in 11 outings, and a share of the lead with the Bulls and idle Talk N Text.

Jason Dixon showed the way with 33 points and the Tigers’ new import, Donald Copeland, had 14 as the Tigers snapped a two-game losing slide and renewed their bid one of two outright semifinals berths.

Cyrus Baguio scored 18 points in the first half for Red Bull but was held to just three points the rest of the way. Import Adam Parada had 20 points but the Bulls still absorbed their first back-to-back losses, having bowed to defending champion Alaska last May 18.

The win avenged Coca-Cola’s 82-75 loss to Red Bull in the first round, but not after the Tigers struggled in the first half, slowed down by 21 turnovers.

Coca-Cola trailed by as many as 32-19 in the first quarter, and went into the dugout at halftime staring at a 48-41 deficit.

To everybody’s surprise, however, Coca-Cola suddenly caught fire from the three-point area after that, outscoring Red Bull 16-3 in the last five minutes of the third period and scoring the first seven points in the fourth to tear the break the game wide open at 77-63.

Meanwhile, Batang-Alaska-Caloocan swept the elimination round of the Burlington-Batang PBA Summer League with a 76-62 victory over Batang Sta. Lucia-Marikina yesterday at the Ynares Center.

Ranbil Tongco scored 23 points and Ivan Chester Lazaro added 14 of his 18 points in third quarter as the Batang Aces stretched a three-point halftime lead to 58-39 entering the fourth quarter.

Caloocan completed a four-game sweep of Group A while Marikina, led by Karole Roy Cruz’s 17 points, finished the eliminations with a 2-2 record.

In Group A, Batang Ginebra-Antipolo clobbered Batang Air 21-Cainta 93-59 to join Batang Alaska-Caloocan in the crossover semifinals scheduled on Friday at the Araneta Coliseum.