MANILA, 29 July 2003 — San Miguel Beer taught the Cebuana Lhuillier-National Team a neat basketball lesson through a 95-55 victory on Sunday night at the start of the Samsung PBA Invitationals at the Astrodome.
Danny Ildefonso and Nic Belasco led a sustained attack from the start as the Beermen, though undermanned, got off to a rousing start in the conference which also features other invited teams from China, Yugoslavia and Korea. Danny Seigle is out for the rest of the season due to injury and Dorian Pe?a remains suspended after testing positive for illegal drugs.
Yet this did not hinder the Beermen’s drive to their first win in Group B. The Nationals, who are using the tourney as part of their buildup for the ABC and Southeast Asian games, were only in the game in the early minutes before having their charge stalled by SMB’s irrepressible ways on both ends of the court. Ildefonso scattered eight of his game-high 20 points and Belasco seven of his 17 in the third quarter, helping the Beermen outscore the Nationals 25-9. The game was close only in the first period, when the Cebuana Lhullier-backed squad came to within six points of the Beermen.
But after the second period, where San Miguel outscored the RP Team, 34-17, it was a blowout the rest of the way. And even after that, the Beermen continued to step on the gas. The Beermen led by 45 at one point before finally tapering off in the last few minutes. Uichico can relate to the hardships del Rosario is going through right now, having coached the national team that went to the Busan, South Korea Asian Games. He got valuable advice then from former national mentor Tim Cone, one that he passed off to del Rosario. The problem is, del Rosario, the concurrent coach of Santo Tomas in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, will have to sift through a mountain of possibilities before finding what his team is best at.
In the second game, Red Bull pasted Korea’s front-line and got away with big baskets in the stretch to forge a 106-96 victory. Nelson Asayono scored 26 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, including 18 points that crushed the front-line of the Yonsei University teeners and sent three of their players to the showers on fouls.
Asaytono scored the go-ahead basket with 4:12 remaining and gave the Thunder, sporting black-and-yellow uniforms and carrying the brand name Barako, an 85-84 lead they never relinquished the rest of the way.
Red Bull’s size edge was clear in one glaring statistic: Asaytono, Enrico Villanueva and Mick Pennisi, the team’s top big men, scored a combined 64 points against Yonsei U. Yonsei came out the way everyone expected it to, being a Korean team and all.
Led by Jung Goo Jun, Hee Jong Yang, Jung Hyup Lee and Seung Tae Choi, the Koreans leaned on their quickness and fabled shooting to put the Thunder in trouble in stretches of the game. They last led at 84-83 when Seung missed a three-point attempt from the side and Asaytono converted in the other end to trigger the win.
