BACOLOD City, 28 April 2008 — The fans had control in the game that was meant for them.
An overtime period was played for the first time in the history of the PBA All-Star Game last night as the league granted a "popular request" by the fans which resulted in a home victory by the South, 163-158, over the North.
Peter June Simon, a first time all-star, scored five of his night-high 29 points in the extra five minutes to key the Southerners victory that won for him the Most Valuable Player award over Reynel Hugnatan and James Yap.
The victory was sweet revenge for the South, which got waylaid last year in Baguio, and leveled their all-time head-to-head duel at 4 games-all before a good-sized crowd at the West Negros University gym here.
Defense was played only in the final three minutes of regulation as the game had 22 deadlocks and the same number of lead changes, emphasizing how much offense was played as a horde of players from both sides finished in twin digits.
Yap scored 25, Hugnatan had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Jimmy Alapag started at the point for the South and wound up with 22 points and 13 assists before three more chipped in with 10 points or more.
Hugnatan rescued the South from the brink of defeat in regulation, as the Southerners came back from 139-145 down with the Alaska enforcer hitting five points that leveled the count at 145 heading into the final 2:31 of the fourth. The fans were treated to an entertaining display, as players made baskets and passes in the most electrifying ways possible. Halftime ended at 79-78 in favor of the North, a total big enough for an entire game when defense is played.
Regulation ended at 149-all and the game was actually called after that. But the fans, some of them paying for tickets at P1,400 from the box-office and more than P2,000 from scalpers for floor seats, became restive and chanted "overtime, overtime," which the league gladly acceded to. And in extra time, it was the South all the way, with Kelly Williams, the newly-crowned Slam Dunk King, shooting two baskets and Simon draining a long triple to shatter a 154 tie that put the game to bed for the Southerners.
Mark Caguioa of Barangay Ginebra paced the North with 24 points and had a huge hand in a basket by Ranidel de Ocampo with 10.4 seconds to go that knotted the count at 149.
Magnolia gunslinger Lordy Tugade had 22, Jay-Jay Helterbrand, who shared the MVP with Willie Miller last year, scattered 19 points like Mac Cardona of Talk 'N Text before Alaska's Miller, who had 14. Arwind Santos, Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo and Ranidel De Ocampo all finished with double figures and all of the players last night contributed offensively in a widely-applauded game.
In another development, Purefoods center Rommel Adducul has reportedly been responding well to chemotherapy and might see action later in the tournament. The 6-foot-6 Tuguegarao native was put on the reserved list before the start of the Fiesta Cup after learning that he had stage 3 nasal pharynx cancer.
