MANILA: San Miguel literally won — and Barangay Ginebra lost — this one.
The Beermen survived a critical scoreless spell in the stretch last night and made the baskets when they had to — something David Noel couldn’t do for the Gin Kings — to level their Fiesta Cup title series at 2-all after a high-wire 106-104 victory at the Araneta Coliseum.
Gabriel Freeman scored 23 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in an energetic performance that carried the Beermen through as he capped his offensive show with two free throws for 105-101 with 13.5 seconds left.
Those charities came less than three seconds after Noel bungled three free throw attempts of his own on the other end which would have given the defending champions a one-point lead and applied further pressure on San Miguel.
And while the game was the finest and closest that was played in the series thus far, coach Siot Tanquingcen of San Miguel wasn’t at all convinced at how the referees have called the first four games of the series.
“I’ll be honest, we’re not getting any breaks from the referees. We’re always in foul trouble,” Tanquigcen told reporters. “It’s human nature (for the referees) to play to the (wishes) of the crowd.” “Nobody out there in their right mind (including the referees) would say that they don’t love the underdog,” added Tanquingcen, who even joked about being fined for his post-game statements. “Everybody loves an underdog (Ginebra).” Jay-Jay Helterbrand, just hours after being named the season’s Most Valuable Player, watched helplessly from the bench in the final three minutes or so because of a recurring hamstring injury. He finished with 22 points and six assists in 40 minutes.
San Miguel had just a two-point lead, 103-101, when Noel was able to draw a foul from Freeman while going for a three-point shot from the left baseline.
But the nerves on the former North Carolina Tar Heel in the US NCAA showed at the oddest time, as all those three attempts were way off the mark before the Kings sent Freeman to the free throw line with a duty foul by Noel with 13.5 left.
Freeman, named a game before as the tournament’s Best Import, calmly made both charities, and Noel almost atoned for that boo-boo by making a three-pointer on the other end for 104-105 with 10.7 seconds remaining.
And after a San Miguel timeout, Cyrus Baguio fouled Mike Cortez for two free throws, with Cortez making just one to leave the door open for the Kings.
Rafi Reavis snared the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Ronald Tubid, who didn’t call a 30-second timeout that his team had and instead passed it to Chico Lanete for a three-point shot that was a tad short. Ginebra’s chances didn’t end there, as Tubid grabbed the offensive board. But instead of driving hard to the hoop with something like three seconds to go and San Miguel in penalty, Tubid elected to step out beyond three-point range for an attempt that didn’t even hit the rim as time expired.
“We would like to think that it came down to the last play of the game or the missed foul shots,” Ginebra’s Jong Uichico said. “But it did not come down to that, it was their offensive rebounds (that killed us). That’s where it came down to.” San Miguel had 24 offensive rebounds — eight of them by Freeman — and these resulted into 23 second chance points for the Beermen compared to just eight points in the same department for Ginebra.
“We have a few days’ rest, hopefully we could recover from this loss, come back Monday ready to battle again,” said Uichico as the series takes a five-day rest with Game 5 to be played Monday at the Big Dome.
Meanwhile, Arwind Santos of Burger King finished second in the MVP race to Helterbrand with 733 points, settling for a forward slot in the Mythical First Team where he and Helterbrand were joined by Mark Cardona of Talk’N Text, Asi Taulava of Coca-Cola and Jay Washington of San Miguel.
Dondon Hontiveros finished third in the MVP race with 650 points, but could only land a place as one of the guards in the Second Team along with Alaska ‘s Willie Miller, Sta. Lucia’s Kelly Williams and Jay-R Reyes and Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine. Norwood won the Rookie of the Year award handily with 3,384 points, with San Miguel point guard Jonas Villanueva copping the Most Improved Player award over Paul Artadi and Reyes with 5,169 total points. The awards were handed out in commemorative rites labeled as the “Leo Awards,” named in honor of the late founding commissioner, Leopoldo Prieto, just before tip-off of the critical Game 4.
