MANILA, 3 July 2007 — As lousy as the game was officiated, Tim Cone and Alaska will remember this for a long time.
The Aces came back from 11 points down early in the fourth period Sunday night and then survived two extensions opposite a San Miguel side that didn’t want to go away for a 113-109 double overtime victory that put Alaska in the PBA Fiesta Cup title series.
Reynel Hugnatan was big on both ends and John Ferriols got a huge call to go his way as the Aces, never a finalist in the last five years after establishing a dynasty in the 1990s, finally showed the Beermen the door with a 4-2 win in their best-of-seven showdown at the Araneta Coliseum.
And Talk ’N Text promptly followed the Aces to the best-of-seven championship series, playing solid ball later to rip Red Bull apart in the fourth quarter of a 122-110 victory in the second game.
The Phone Pals also closed out the Bulls, 4-2, and made just the sixth title series appearance in their PBA existence, one which very few thought was unachievable for a team that lost three starters to the National squad. Game 1 of the title series is on Wednesday.
Dale Singson was the first rabbit out of Tim Cone’s hat, hitting a triple with eight-tenths of a second remaining in regulation to tie the count at 92, just when it seemed that a rubber match was already necessary.
Ferriols also hit two key baskets in the second extension before fishing a key offensive foul from a driving LA Tenorio in the dying seconds that nullified the potential game-tying basket. It also set up Singson for the clinching two free throws heading into the final 8.3 seconds.
“That was a gutsy call by the referee,” Cone, who was without starting off-guard Jeffrey Cariaso because of a knee injury, said later. “And it was an irony because we can’t believe the calls. All game long they were calling the silly fouls and suddenly this call goes in our favor.
“A lot of aggressiveness has been taken out of the game because of the tight officiating,” he said. “Either the refs adjust to us or we adjust to the refs.”
Cone’s brilliance in calling the shots made the win happen. He made splendid substitutions in key points of the game and it spelled the difference.
Yanking Singson out of the bench to make the inbound and get the return pass from left quarter court from Nic Belasco for that overtime-forging triple was his first magic stroke before he called for Willie Miller to get more touches of the ball.
And it resulted in a breakout game for the former MVP Miller, who finished with 20 points and took over when Mike Cortez fouled out near the end of regulation.
The unheralded Hugnatan, a lanky southpaw with an awkward jumpshot, finished with 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, the last of those boards proving to be the biggest. The 6-foot-4 forward snagged a Tenorio miss from the foul line with with 44.3 seconds to go that kept Alaska ahead, 110-109.
“I feel like we just won a championship,” Cone added. “I have forgotten how this (making the Finals) feels like.” Ellis, who scored 22 of his 34 points in the first two periods, played sick for the second straight game but showed no signs of it until after the game when he headed straight to the locker room to throw up three times. The hard-working import has not yet recovered fully from food poising that kept him in a hospital for the whole of Thursday night.
Alaska’s victory was one of the best ever seen in the tournament, something which San Miguel was able to do throughout to survive five previous knockout matches and get this far.
The Beermen started out 0-6, dropped to the wildcard phase and then came back from four points down in the final 13 seconds opposite Coca-Cola to advance to the quarterfinals against sister team Barangay Ginebra.
And after being blown off the court in Game 1 by the Gin Kings, the Beermen returned the favor in the next game before overhauling a 16-point deficit in the final 6:26 to deal Ginebra a crushing beating and climb to the semifinal against the Aces.
But the Beermen couldn’t finish the job just when they needed to last night, with Galen Young, one of the prime reasons why they made it this far, missing a total of five free throws inside the final 2:48 of regulation which could have won it.
Mac Cardona again played hero for the Phone Pals, shooting 38 points to reset his career high for the third time in two weeks. The former La Salle ace has cracked 30 points in four of the Phone Pals’ last seven games.
“No one expected us to be here, especially since we lost three of our key players (to the National Team),” Pumaren later said. “I just have to give it to the boys for not giving up and working so hard.” James Penny led the Bulls with 40 points, but he missed some crucial free throws early in the fourth period which gave the Phone Pals momentum.
