MANILA, 2 December 2003 — The San Miguel Beermen bucked the absence of import Kwan Johnson to steal Game One from the Coca-Cola Tigers, 84-81, and took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship in the 2003 Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference at the Araneta Coliseum, on Sunday night.
“That’s just one win,” cautioned San Miguel Beer coach Jong Uichico. “Coca-Cola has the ability to come back. We can’t afford to relax against them.”
Johnson kept pace with a driving Ato Morano then sprawled on the floor writhing in pain from an unspecified groin injury with 3:53 to go in the third period and the Beermen leading by 7 points, 60-53.
Johnson never came back to the game. But he didn’t need to as Danny Ildefonso provided the key points, 11 in the fourth quarter alone, to bail the Beermen out of trouble.
“Danny (Ildefonso) shot the big baskets for us tonight,” said Uichico. “But it was defense that did it for us. We didn’t let them get the points that we thought would hurt us the most. And we won despite the absence of Johnson.”
The Tigers crept within one point of the San Miguel lead, 80-79, behind the layup by Rudy Hatfield with 42 seconds to go in the game. But Danny Ildefonso scored on a spinning jumpshot over Hatfield himself with 22 seconds left, to give the Beermen some breathing room.
Jeff Cariaso’s driving layup and split charities by Olsen Racela and Ildefonso finalized the count.
Ildefonso and Johnson finished with identical 17 points for the Beermen. Dorian Pena and Nic Belasco chipped in 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Cariaso pushed the Tigers within one point of the Beermen on a drive down the right side of the court, 82-81. Olsen Racela countered by splitting his charities to push the Beermen up by two, 83-81. Ildefonso then sealed the win by breaking up the Tigers’ last offensive play.
Tee McClary had another explosive night for the Tigers with a game-high 35 points. Rob Wainwright and Jeff Cariaso chipped in 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Talk ‘N’ Text made do with whatever little glory it can squeeze out this year by beating Sta. Lucia Realty, 123-106, in the battle for third place.
A huge 22-point spread midway in the third quarter all but secured the victory for the Phone Pals, who coasted from there to pull down the curtains on a banner season highlighted by their amazing All-Filipino triumph.
Talk ‘N’ Text was swept by Coca-Cola in the best-of-five semifinals — the latter, ironically, the losing finalist in the All-Filipino series. Damien Cantrell and Asi Taulava combined for 60 points, 27 rebounds and nine assists while Alapag, still wearing a protective face mask due to a fractured nose he suffered during the quarterfinal series against Red Bull, scored 14 points and had four assists.
Harvey Carey and Mark Telan each tossed 12 points, most of them in the fourth quarter where the Realtors tried, but failed, to at least close the gap.
Without Ray Tutt, who according to the team sustained a calf injury during the quarterfinals, Sta. Lucia was practically an easy prey for Talk ‘N’ Text.
Dennis Espino had 30 points, eight assists and five boards while Kenneth Duremdes scored 26 but, with Marlou Aquino going scoreless in the final half and Paolo Mendoza’s usual three-point bombs nowhere to be found, there was nothing much the Realtors could do.
It was the first four-game losing streak for Sta. Lucia in the last two and a half years, resulting to its second fourth-place finish this season after losing to Alaska in the All-Filipino.
With Cantrell and Taulava having a heyday inside the paint, the Phone Pals zoomed to a 79-57 advantage early in the third quarter.
Sta. Lucia’s best effort in the game was a 15-2 run that narrowed the difference to 72-81 in the 4:03 minutes of the period.
Two minutes into the payoff quarter, the Phone Pals were back to a commanding 100-82 lead.
