MANILA: Nothing beats working hard to get something done.
Especially if it is against a team no one gave a chance to win.
San Miguel clinched the first automatic semifinal slot in the Philippine Cup last night, but not after getting a scare from lowly Barako Bull in a 94-85 victory where Arwind Santos scored 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
The Beermen almost lost a 21-point first quarter lead at the Cuneta Astrodome after playing careless in the second quarter, needing a steady effort in the final two frames to assure themselves of advancing to the semifinals for the fourth straight tournament.
“It’s nice to be in the semis. But we cannot be satisfied with just being in the semis,” said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen. “We have to make sure that we stay sharp, and we still have to work on a lot of things if ever we want to reach our next goal.
“Right now, we achieved our first objective,” he continued. “We now have to move our objective a notch, and that is to get to the Finals.” Three others scored in twin digits for the Beermen and starting point guard Jonas Villanueva dished off a night-high 10 assists in a befuddling multi-cornered attack that went on to deal the Energy Boosters an 11th straight loss.
Now at 2-13, Barako Bull moved closer toward becoming the only casualty in the season-opening tournament as it fell a full game behind idle Coca-Cola for ninth spot, the final slot to be given out to wildcard qualifiers.
The Boosters have three games remaining in their schedule and would need no less than a sweep to stay mathematically alive for the final wildcard berth.
San Miguel, meanwhile, has two games left, and the Beermen could afford to take things easy from now on.
But listening to Tanquingcen further, it seems that going on cruise control at this time is the last things in his mind.
“The job of coaching staff now is to be able to maintain the sharpness of this team,” he said. “We would need to find games to play during the break. We will play any team that would want to play us.” Getting automatically into the semifinals would mean at least a three-week rest for the Beermen.
Incidentally, league-leading Alaska clashes with Barangay Ginebra in a crucial game slated at the Batangas City Sports Arena in Batangas today with the Aces seeking to notch win No. 12 and move within another victory of joining San Miguel.
Alaska has an 11-2 card and would have five tries to win two more games, and winning just once for the remainder of their elimination round schedule could guarantee the Aces of at least a playoff for the second outright semifinal berth.
San Miguel won despite turning the ball over 26 times, the very reason why the Boosters were able to almost erase a 25-4 deficit in the first period to come within six points at the end of the first half. Nine of those turnovers came in the second quarter, and this is one aspect of San Miguel’s game that Tanquingcen said he would need to address as the team awaits for the semifinals to take place.
