MANILA, 17 December 2003 — Denied in their first two finals appearances this season, the Tigers rode on their fearless attacking game and championship poise to thwart San Miguel Beer’s last ditch rally and carve out a masterful 92-84 clincher on Sunday night in their decisive Game 7 for Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference championship at the packed Araneta Coliseum.
Artemus McClary, named the tournament Best Import, shrugged off a sluggish first quarter and unloaded 11 of his 25 points in the pivotal fourth quarter where Coke pulled away before the Beermen mounted a spirited comeback that was still foiled in the end.
The victory gave Reyes his fourth PBA title and the monicker “Mr. December” after he also piloted Coca Cola to the All-Filipino crown on Christmas Day last year against Alaska.
“That’s a nice title,” said Reyes who personally dedicated the win to George Palermo, a nine-year old cancer patient at Philippine General Hospital who sent a text message to Reyes before the knockout match, asking the Tigers to win the title for him.
“But more than anything, it’s our superior conditioning that brought us to this championship. We played the most number of games this year but we just had the extra energy to pull this one out,” he added.
Reyes’ new accomplishment did not only put his name in the same breath as PBA legend Robert Jaworski, Yeng Guiao and the late Ed Ocampo in seventh spot in the most number of titles but also the upperhand for this year’s coveted Coach of the Year plum of the PBA Press Corps.
Reyes, the first recipient of the Coach of the Year trophy 10 years ago, is battling toe-to-toe with Talk ‘N’ Text mentor Joel Banal who brought the Phone Pals to their first PBA crown in the All-Filipino Cup this year against the Tigers.
Coke also lost to Alaska in the best-of-three finals of the Invitational tournament, 1-2.
On Sunday night, the Tigers appeared to be headed in the same direction before McClary, who was scoreless in the first quarter, waxed hot in the fourth period.
Clinging to a 65-59 edge entering the final canto, the Tigers opened the stage with a decisive 20-11 exchange, the last nine came from the Coke import who capped the run with a three-pointer for the biggest lead of the game, 85-70, 5:45 left in the game.
But the Beermen, who played the last seven minutes of the match without import Kwan Johnson, found a second wind and behind the hustle plays of Dondon Hontiveros and Olsen Racela, they countered with a 12-2 surge to cut the lead to five, 82-87, 1:39 remaining. Johnny Abarrientos then put a halt to the spirited comeback with a pair of free throws off a foul by Dorian Pena, 89-82. Hontiveros converted a quick drive but Ato Morano sealed the win with more two free throws. Morano added 14 points while Finals MVP Jeffrey Cariaso had 13, 11 of them in the second half. Rudy Hatfield chipped in 10, all in the first half.
Dorian Pena paced the runners-up with 23 points and 15 rebounds, with 13 coming off the offensive end. Hontiveros had 19 markers, Johnson and Nic Belasco netted 11 apiece while Danny Ildefonso had 10 but had eight of the team’s 18 turnovers, five of them coming in the fourth quarter.
