MANILA, 20 March 2006 — It was another tough night for Coca-Cola. But Binky Favis will take a win whichever form it comes.
“We got lucky again,” Favis said, moments after his Tigers threaded the needle to beat San Miguel Beer 75-72 last night that kept Coke atop the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations.
Favis and the Tigers won for the fourth straight time, coming to within another victory of matching a franchise-best start even with the outspoken mentor now owning a new personal best as far as winning streaks are concerned.
The last time Coke was in a start as hot as this one was in the 2003 Reinforced Conference, when the team won its first five games. Favis, on the other hand, won four consecutives games for the first time, his old mark coming in November last year when he won three straight in the Fiesta Conference eliminations.
Meanwhile, Talk ‘N Text broke into the win column, destroying Purefoods in the PBA’s first official game in Hong Kong, 88-66, at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium earlier.
Willie Miller, the 2002 Most Valuable Player, scattered 28 points and Harvey Carey backed him up with 14 as the Phone Pals won for the first time in three games.
Kerby Raymundo led all Purefoods scorers with 24 points, but James Yap was held down to only nine as the Chunkee Giants were in a deep hole as early as the first quarter which ended with the Phone Pals holding a 30-16 lead.
The Tigers almost bungled an imposing 16-point lead. Though they were never headed, they were certainly on the ropes, especially in the final two minutes.
San Miguel committed two flimsy errors inside the final 14 seconds, the first an elementary play between Olsen Racela and shooting guard Christian Calaguio when the team was trailing by only one. John Arigo, who paced the Tigers with 16 points, canned two charities in the final 11 seconds before the last of those two boo-boos for San Miguel came.
Brandon Cablay, shipped to the Beermen from Alaska in exchange for big man Nic Belasco, did not elect to shoot the potential game-tying triple, making Danny Ildefonso take a harried attempt at the buzzer.
The win came on the heels of Coca-Cola’s 80-72 win over Purefoods Chunkee in another gut-wrenching game decided only in the fourth quarter last Wednesday and jacked the Tigers’ league-leading win-loss record to 4-0.
The loss cut short SMB’s two-game winning run and dropped it to an even 2-2 slate, when a win could have given the Beermen a share of the lead.
