MANILA: San Miguel zoomed to the top of the standings in the Fiesta Cup eliminations last night and left little doubt of its worthiness.
Hitting their shots from almost everywhere, the Beermen manhandled Purefoods in a way probably no one did before to cruise to a 122-103 victory that allowed San Miguel to keep its unblemished slate at the Araneta Coliseum.
It was all over early as the Beermen took a 14-point lead after the first period and a 31-point bubble at the break, as the Tender Juicy Giants ate their dust the rest of the way and dropped back to Mother Earth with their first loss in three games.
“We somehow caught them (Giants) on a bad night,” San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen said. “But not taking anything away from our team, we really hustled out there and took them out of their groove.”
The Beermen, the strongest team on paper, who are looking to win a first title since the 2005 version of this tournament, won for the third straight game after getting eight players in twin digits, two of them double-doubles led by Dorian Pena’s 17 points and 11 rebounds.
After taking a 70-39 lead into the third period, the Beermen led by as many as 83-44 after a Wesley Gonzales jumper with still 8:11 left in the third period, and the Giants didn’t get closer than the final margin.
There was no player who saw action for more than 31 minutes for Tanquingcen, dramatizing how much in control the Beermen were.
Olsen Racela scored 16 points in 20 minutes, making all three triple tries, all but one of four two-point shots and his lone free throw. Only Ken Bono and sophomore center Samigue Eman failed to score for the Beermen.
Aiding Purefoods’ downfall was the fact that the Beermen played great defense on the Giants’ main guns, particularly on former MVP James Yap.
Yap was held scoreless until the final second of the third period when he beat the buzzer with a triple from the left wing. At that point, he had already missed his first 10 shots, five of them from three-point range.
The leading local scorer in the tournament finished with just three points in 24 minutes. It was Yap ‘s lowest output in his last 210 games, or since the 2004-2005 Philippine Cup when he went scoreless on Oct. 22, 2004 in an 89-87 win over Sta. Lucia.
Kerby Raymundo led all Purefoods shooters with 19.
Brian Hamilton, who debuted with a triple double before getting ejected in the second game, had 18 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and three assists for the Giants who have openly said that Hamilton ‘s stint is still under evaluation.
Equally hot like the Beermen was Sta. Lucia, which looks like it has the best import in the current lot in Anthony Johnson.
The reedy and acrobatic Johnson scored 43 points and grabbed 21 rebounds - both PBA career highs - which led the Realtors to an easy 100-91 victory over Barako Bull that tied San Miguel for the longest streak in the tournament.
Sta. Lucia upped its record to 3-1, and with the Purefoods loss, jumped to solo second behind the Beermen after also getting 21 points and 13 rebounds from reigning MVP Kelly Williams.
The Energy Boosters, who came into the game taking the momentum of a 92-90 upset of Alaska over the weekend, played with command in the first half with import Scooter McFadgon scoring 23 of his 38 points.
But the Realtors turned up the heat at the start of the third, attacking the Barako Bull zone relentlessly and getting 16 points from Johnson to close out the third period sitting on a 76-62 lead.
It was all over from there as the Realtors played with so much character and did not allow the Energy Booster to gain their second wind.
Sta. Lucia’s defense also held McFadgon to just four points in the third period, where the Energy Boosters scored just 10 points after tallying 24 points in the first and 28 in the second quarter, respectively.
“He’s really good and I am very happy that he is playing for us,” Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez said of his import, who is slowly but surely turning out to be the yardstick in the tournament.
