MANILA: Starting all over again for San Miguel.
After having a nine-game winning streak snapped last week, the Beermen got back on track Sunday night by holding off Purefoods in the stretch for an 87-80 victory in the Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
Arwind Santos and Dondon Hontiveros each hit 18 points to lead San Miguel, which rose to 10-3 overall, a full game behind league-leading Alaska as the race for the top two slots and automatic semifinal berths heats up even more.
The loss was the first in the last five games for the Tender Juicy Giants, who are now at 8-5 but still mathematically in the hunt for one of the two berths.
“We made the stops, the bottom line is our defense,” said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen. “Holding a talented team like Purefoods to 80 points is an achievement in itself. We played good defense tonight.”
Dennis Miranda and Mike Cortez combined for another 26 points for the Beermen, who own the longest winning streak in the tournament but have failed to wrest the lead from the consistent Aces, who are at 10-1.
And while the battle for the top spot has been heating up, a similar struggle is taking place at the bottom.
Coca-Cola made it an interesting race after snapping out of a rut and scoring a 106-94 decision of Burger King in the first game.
Larry Rodriguez matched his career-high with 21 points as the Tigers snapped an eight-game losing streak and improved to 2-11, now tied for ninth place with idle Barako Bull.
Only one team will get the boot after the double round eliminations, and Coca-Cola’s victory could have signaled the start of things to come for the Tigers, who played their second straight game with Asi Taulava back from a foot injury.
Alex Cabagnot had 18 points and Taulava was good for 12 this time while providing the spirit and leadership sorely missing in the team ever since he sat it out after just a game and a quarter into the season.
“We have never talked about the X’s and O’s of the game, including this one,” said new Coca-Cola coach Bo Perasol, calling the shots vice Kenneth Duremdes in just his third game. “More than anything else, the burden in the minds of the players is pulling us down.
“One more win and we will be back. Our modest goal is to win five or six more games,” he added. “We think this is achievable and we want to believe that we’ve got a rhythm from this game that we could use in our next games,” he added.
Only the Energy Boosters have lost as many in a row like the Tigers, and another loss could prove to be the turning point for both squads.
Gary David led the Whoppers with 23 points, and those weren’t enough to prevent Burger King from tumbling for the second straight time and dropping to 4-11 overall, still not out of the woods as far as the battle for wildcard berths is concerned.
Cabagnot quarterbacked the Tigers with great efficiency, finishing with a career-high tying 13 assists even as Mark Macapagal added 16 points and RJ Rizada 14 for Coca-Cola.
Meanwhile, crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra remained in third place after a 101-97 victory over Rain or Shine Saturday night in Tacloban City .
