JUST like the late Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in the U.S. National Basketball Association, there is no way that Allan Caidic’s 79-point performance in the Philippine Basketball Association 22 years ago will be duplicated, let alone surpassed, in the years to come.
With the relatively low game scores nowadays in Asia’s first professional league, it is unlikely that another prolific marksman currently toiling in the PBA is capable of eclipsing Caidic’s scoring record.
On November 21, 1991, Caidic shot the lights out of the Araneta Coliseum by exploding for 79 points in powering Tivoli (nee Great Taste/Presto) to a 162-149 drubbing of crowd favorite Ginebra San Miguel.
This established the all-time PBA single-game scoring mark by a homegrown Filipino player. When he registered the mind-boggling feat, the unassuming left-handed hotshot that Filipino cage fans fondly called “The Triggerman” for his prodigious shooting touch was only 28 years old and appearing in just his fifth PBA campaign.
Among the locals, Paul Alvarez is the only player other than Caidic to breach the 70-point barrier. Alvarez, known as “Mr. Excitement,” chalked up 71 markers for Alaska in a 169-138 victory over Shell on April 26, 1990.
In registering his 79-point feat, which he secured on a dozen two-point field goals, 17 three-point field goals and four free throws, Caidic also set several PBA single-game records by a local player.
These are: Most points in one half, 53 (second half); most points in one quarter, 37 (third); most three-point shots made, 17; and most three-point attempts, 27.
Two years earlier, Caidic also knocked in 68 markers (nine 2FGS, 15 3FGs and five FTs) for Presto in a 175-159 overtime decision over Alaska on November 2, 1989.
Caidic, who along with Jerry Codiñera and Boycie Zamar (currently the UE head coach) helped guide the University of the East Red Warriors to their most recent University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) title in 1985, saw action with Great Taste-Presto-Tivoli, San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra in the PBA from 1987 to 1999.
The 6-foot-2 forward from Pasig City hit at a 19.6-point clip in 598 games during his distinguished 13-year PBA career. His career average still ranks fourth on the all-time local list behind Fil-Am Ricardo Brown (23.1 ppg), William (Bogs) Adornado (20.4) and Ernesto (Estoy) Estrada (19.7).
Caidic also is one of only 13 men in PBA annals to collect at least 10,000 points, with his 11,719 scores good for 10th place on the all-time scoring ladder until now.
Caidic won the PBA’s Rookie of the Year award with Great Taste in 1987 and earned league Most Valuable Player honors with Presto three years later.
At 50, Caidic is currently an assistant coach with Barangay Ginebra in the PBA and served as one of Marco Januz (Juno) Sauler’s assistant coaches on the Cinderella-like De La Salle team that copped the UAAP men’s basketball crown last month.