MANILA, 22 March 2005 — San Miguel Beer coach Jong Uichico is looking for one constant factor in his team and found it Sunday night.

Displaying a resolute heart, the Beermen drubbed erstwhile unbeaten Talk N Text 103-92 to take over the lead in the Gran Matador-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

Danny Seigle’s 17 points was 12 below his tournament average and import Chris Burgess managed only 10 points. Yet SMB still found themselves leading the standings with a 4-1 win-loss record.

Uichico himself was surprised with the way his players, who had little rest following a 97-94 double overtime win against Sta. Lucia Realty last Thursday, battled back from as many as 11 points down to beat TNT, which slipped to 2-1.

“Our morale was high after that double overtime win, pero I didn’t expect them to play with the same level of intensity, same energy,” said Uichico.

“Our gameplan, really, was just to keep up with them (TNT) and see what happens.”

Olsen Racela typified SMB’s irrepressible drive by scoring 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half while distributing seven assists. Nic Belasco also scattered 17 points to go with nine boards while Dondon Hontiveros added 16 points, 14 in the second half.

Import Ike Earl’s 19 points and 17 rebounds paced the Phone Pals, who shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half before going 1-of-9 the rest of the way, making Uichico stick with the zone defense.

The most notable result of SMB’s defense holding up and TNT’s touch going sour was Racela scoring six points and Hontiveros four during a 12-2 run that shattered the game’s last deadlock at 80 and gave the Beermen a 92-82 lead.

The Phone Pals closed in at 86-92, but Seigle, Hontiveros and Racela conspired in a decisive 11-3 run, capped by Seigle’s slam, that made it 103-88, only a minute left.

Talk N Text went into the game with a 4-1 record against SMB in their last five games and seemingly was on its way to an easy win in the early goings of the match that featured both teams countering each other’s scoring bursts. The biggest personal surge was made by Mark Telan, who scored six straight points to give the Phone Pals a sizable 47-36 lead just five minutes into the second period. In that stretch, only Nic Belasco was able to score with any consistency for the Beermen.

Willie Miller and forward Harvey Carey then took over in powering TNT from a 47-42 count before Jimmy Alapag hit a triple to make it a 60-51 count at the half.

In the second game, Fedex blew a double-digit lead in the first half but played steadily in the endgame to down Sta. Lucia, 103-93, and snap a two-game losing skid.

The Express leveled their record to 2-2 while the Realtors dropped their third game in four outings.

In observance of the Holy Week, the Beermen will go on a 12-day vacation while the Phone Pals, fresh off a week-long break, get another 11-day rest.