MANILA, 18 May 2004 — An outright quarterfinals entry did not dull San Miguel Beer any as it claimed a 97-91 victory over Shell in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Olsen Racela, Danny Seigle and Danny Ildefonso came up big as usual for San Miguel at crunchtime, powering the Beermen to their 14th win against only two setbacks.

The Turbochargers were just trailing 90-89, but they could not sustain the pressure, failing to box out Ildefonso, who sneaked in to make that crucial follow-up on a Racela side jumper to make it 92-89 with 47 seconds remaining.

Shell opted to get the best shot available and Ronald Tubid came through with a big basket at the other end and drew a foul from Dondon Hontiveros.

But the former University of the East stalwart missed a potential game-tying free throw and committed a useless foul on Seigle during a rebound struggle.

Seigle made both free throws for a 94-91 San Miguel lead.

In the next play, the Turbochargers were obviously looking for a three-point shot but couldn’t find clear access to the basket.

They did find one when Chris Calaguio squeezed through against a phalanx of Beermen defenders but muffed his lay-up.

Racela cleared the board and picked up another foul for two more charities before Seigle split his free throws after another Shell missed offensive thrust at the other end for the final tally. The loss was the 11th against six wins for Shell, which put up a gallant stand when import Jameel Watkins fouled out early in the fourth, only to throw it all away in the face of pressure.

San Miguel earned one of two automatic quarterfinals berths as early as last week with idle Coca-Cola having the inside crack at the second with a 10-5 win-loss record.

Tony dela Cruz paced the Turbo Chargers with 23 points while Watkins added 19 but was limited to just eight rebounds, his lowest output in that department in the tournament.

In the other game, Asi Taulava exploded for a career-high 51 points to lead the Phone Pals to a 131-105 thumping of Purefoods and boost their chance for the twice-to-beat incentive in the next round while putting back the Hotdogs at the tailend of the standings with league-worst 4-12 card. Taulava shot an astonishing 22-of-24 from the field and almost single-handedly carried Talk N’ Text in the one-sided match, giving new Hotdogs import Joe Zaletel a rude welcome in the PBA.