MANILA, 14 December 2003 — The 2003 Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference finals will go down-to-the-wire.
San Miguel Beer defeated Coca-Cola Tigers 85-80 at the PhilSports Arena on Friday night to force a do-or-die Game 7.
The adage “offense wins games, but defense wins championships” was again proven true as the never-say-die Beermen finally turned up their defense in the second half to preseve the win.
San Miguel Beer held the Tigers to just 27 points in the second half, which was actually what Coke scored in the first quarter alone.
“It’s going to be do-or-die on Sunday,” said San Miguel Beer coach Jong Uichico. “We’re still alive. The players came out today believing that they could win this game and that was the reason we won.”
“We had a very poor start. We can’t afford to do that again if we hope to win against them. It’s going to be do-or-die Sunday,” repeated a tired Uichico.
The final game of the 2003 season is slated today at the Araneta Coliseum.
It will only be the 13th Game 7 ever in PBA history and the first for both head coaches.
Danny Ildefonso took a pass along the baseline, pivoted, faked off Coca-Cola’s Poch Juinio and Tee McClary, then drilled a basket, 84-80, for the Beermen, with only 50 seconds to go in the game. It proved to be the marginal basket for San Miguel.
Tee McClary, forced way outside from his shooting range by an unforgiving San Miguel defense, then missed a three-pointer on the return play. Dondon Hontiveros finalized the count with a split charity.
Coca-Cola, starring the hot-shooting Tee McClary who drilled two triples off the bat, surprised the Beermen with their hot start to roar to a commanding 16-2 lead. But San Miguel’s Danny Ildefonso led the Beermen comeback, scoring 11 first-quarter points in 7 minutes as SMB inched closer to the Coca-Cola lead, 19-27, after the first period.
The Tigers eventually posted a 53-43 half-time lead.
Olsen Racela made a crossover move to burst past Rob Wainwright, faked a pass, then scooted in for a layup to give the Beermen the first taste of the lead, 63-61, with 2:55 left in the third period.
The Beermen went on to outscore the Tigers, 25-13, to forge ahead, 68-66, after the third period. The fourth period was nip-and-tuck all the way with both teams struggling to score. But the Beermen leaned on their newfound defensive intensity to carve out the win.
The Scores:
San Miguel 85: Ildefonso, 17, Belasco 17, Pe?a 15, Johnson 12, Hontiveros 12, Racela 10, Victoria 2, Gahol 0, Mente 0.
Coca-Cola 80: McClary 28, Wainwright 12, Juinio 10, Hatfield 9, Cariaso 7, Abarrientos 6, Reavis 5, Morano 3, Hawkins 0. Quarterscores: 19-27, 43-53, 68-66, 85-80.
