PBA: Danny Florencio’s 64-point game, scoring splurges in 1977

The late Danny Florencio, referred to as the original “Skywalker” by Filipino basketball fans had one of his memorable scoring feats on November 5, 1977.

The former UST Glowing Goldie exploded for 64 points against the Toyota Tamaraws on this day in 1977, in a 136-121 loss while playing for the Seven-Up Uncolas in the PBA 2nd Conference semifinals.

Danny Florencio while playing for Seven-Up. [photo clip from Henry Liao]

As mentioned in a previous post here on Sports Bytes Philippines by veteran journalist Henry Liao, the 5-foot-10 guard achieved the scoring feat before the three-point shot era.

Danny Florencio reached the 64-point splurge by sinking 21 of 25 field goal attempts and making 22 of 25 free throws. It was the biggest scoring output by a Filipino in the first three years of the PBA while also beating the highest scoring mark of 56 points that year set in the second conference by import Vernon Lee Freeman of Royal Tru-Orange.

Also worth noting is that at that time, the PBA scoring record holder was another Uncola in import Billy Rogers. He tallied 77 points for Seven-Up in the second conference of the 1976 PBA season.

Other PBA scoring feats

Before Florencio’s record-setting feat that year, it was Adriano Papa Jr. who held the most points scored by a Filipino local that year. Papa had 59 points for the Mariwasa-Honda Panthers in the second round of the All-Filipino conference.

Aside from Florencio, other notable scoring feats on the November 5 schedule saw Cyrus Mann scoring 31 points in the Crispa Redmanizers’ 105-98 win over the Tanduay Distillers.

Byron “Snake” Jones also wound up with 38 points for the night, leading the U-Tex Wranglers to a 112-105 win over the Presto Ice Cream Flavorites.

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Brian Yalung

Managing Editor at Sports Bytes PH

Brian Yalung is a long-time writer who covers most sports and technology. He focuses on one-on-one interviews with athletes and organizations, going in-depth. He finished his Masters in Business Administration degree at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Applications at the DLSU-College of St. Benilde. He is currently the Program Overseer of PTV Sports.