MANILA, 16 November 2006 — Talk about a system already in place, and San Miguel has one.
With their coach out of focus for practically the first half, the Beermen dug deep within themselves and came from 11 point behind to rip Red Bull, 84-78, in a highly-physical PBA Philippine Cup game last night.
“This was a game the players pulled out,” coach Chot Reyes said. “I was totally out of focus because of the technical (foul) called on me, which was really nothing. I said nothing to that referee. “The players showed impressive focus, especially in the second half.” Reyes was slapped with a T in the middle of the first period “just for questioning a non-call,” he said.
“The technical foul was totally uncalled for,” Reyes added. “It was in the first quarter and I was not even shouting. The call totally threw me out of focus and good thing the players responded the way they did.” San Miguel pulled out the win even with Danny Seigle not returning to play in the second half, a victim of what Reyes said was a deliberate attack to physically harm the prolific San Miguel forward.
The Beermen climbed into a four-way logjam at second spot with the Barako, the Gin Kings and idle Purefoods at 6-4, now two full games behind the league-leading Sta. Lucia Realtors.
Seigle suffered two injuries, one in the nose and another in the eye, the second, Reyes said, was because Red Bull missed hitting the nose for the second time, getting the eye instead.
“I just hope we don’t pay too steep a price for this win,” Reyes added. “Hopefully, nothing serious has happened to Danny (Seigle). This is a long tournament and we need all available hands on deck.” Danny Ildefonso rose to the challenge, hitting 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds as the Beermen bounced back from a tough loss to sister team Barangay Ginebra to be in prime shape for their next outing, which will be against Talk ‘N Text. Olsen Racela hit a triple with 5:48 left that capped a string of seven unanswered points for a 78-69 lead the Barako were never really able to overhaul.
Sta. Lucia, a team on a hot streak, improved its franchise-best start to 8-2 earlier while keeping the solo elimination round lead after whipping Coca-Cola, 106-91.
The Realtors got 25 points from Kelly Williams, 19 in the first half where Sta. Lucia broke away by as many as 29 points before being threatened early in the fourth quarter.
It was the eighth win in 10 starts for the Realtors, who have had at least a share of the lead all tournament long. Their only losses came at the hands of defending champion Purefoods and Red Bull. “It was because of our defense that we erected such a huge lead,” Sta. Lucia coach Alfrancis Chua said. “And it was our fault why they (Tigers) were able to come back. We just relaxed on defense.” Coming into the game the losers of their last two games and four of their last five, the Tigers dropped to 3-7 overall, just a win out of the cellar-dwelling Alaska Aces with only one team getting the boot after the long elimination round.
But Coca-Cola did not simply give up despite trailing, 27-56 after a Dennis Espino layup near the halftime break, as the Tigers fought hard to creep within 76-78 early in the fourth period behind rookie Joseph Yeo.
Yeo, the third overall pick in the Draft behind Williams and Arwind Santos, who landed with Air21, finished with a career-best 20 points, his performance highlighted by a three-point play off Kenneth Duremdes to shove the Tigers within that two-point deficit.
The 6-foot- Yeo scored that three-point play off a Sta. Lucia triple team of Marlou Aquino, Williams and Kenneth Duremdes.
John Arigo led the Tigers with 25 points, and after Yeo, Ali Peek was the only other player in double figures for Cole with 11.
