MANILA, 14 May 2004 — San Miguel Beer practically fired on all cylinders to fashion a methodical 105-85 demolition of Alaska Wednesday to make it first to the quarterfinals of the PBA Gran Matador Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

Olsen Racela provided the primary boost in an explosive third quarter while Danny Seigle took over in the fourth as league-leading SMB posted their 13th win in 15 games that gave it outright entry to the eight-team round that follows the wildcard phase. Racela and Seigle scored 22 and 19 points, respectively.

“Our goal was to get there (quarterfinals) as soon as we can and this team responded,” said SMB coach Jong Uichico.

The Beermen sneaked in a mild run late in the second period, then turned the Araneta Coliseum into their playground in the third to score the huge win.

“We knew that this would get us to the next round without having to go through the wild card phase. We did not exactly say we would get it tonight but the goal was to get it as soon as possible,” said San Miguel coach Jong Uichico.

“I’m a streaky shooter. If I hit my shots early, I know I can shoot well the rest of the game. If I miss early, I try not to take too many shots,” said Racela, who also had seven assists against a lone turnover to move to within 25 assists of the 2,000-plateau.

Seigle also came out big, scoring 10 straight points to give San Miguel a 95-75 lead in the fourth quarter, the biggest in the game, but Tim Cone believed the game was lost before that.

“We just lost our will. San Miguel can do that to you. We quit on the game like I’ve never seen an Alaska team quit before. I mentioned that to my players and couple of them took affront at what I said,” said the Alaska mentor.

Still, it did look like Alaska gave up easily.

After holding the reins of the match, though in jittery fashion, Alaska suddenly came apart almost inexplicably in the end of the second period as San Miguel took a 47-39 half-time lead.

In the main game, Ginebra, which is headed for the wild card round, got a good momentum-drawer with a 134-110 mobbing of Sta. Lucia. The Kings shared the ball well, drawing six players in double figures built around an impressive conference high-tying 36-assist performance to buck the 52 points of Sta. Lucia import Derrick Brown and grab their seventh win in 15 games.

Sta. Lucia slipped to 7-9.

“I was really surprised and impressed at the way we moved the ball around,” said Ginebra coach Siot Tangquingcen, whose wards hit 30 points in all four periods.

Ginebra’s output was the highest since Mobiline beat Gordon’s Gin, 136-117 in 1997. The two teams also combined for the highest output since Purefoods beat Sta. Lucia, 127-118 in double overtime three years ago.

It was also the highest output of the Ginebra franchise since beating Mobiline, 149-122 in Cebu City during the 1996 Governors’ Cup.