MANILA, 19 December 2003 — With both teams virtually playing all-Filipino, the Coca-Cola Tigers played better without an import to trounce the San Miguel Beermen, 103-79, and tie the best-of-seven championship series of the 2003 Samsung-PBA Reinforced Conference at the Araneta Coliseum, at 1-all, Wednesday night.
It was supposed to be an import-reinforced conference but both teams curiously played without imports for majority of the contest.
The Tigers exploited the absence of injured SMB import Kwan Johnson to vault to a fat 18-point bubble, 60-42, with 10 minutes to go in the third quarter.
That was when the action turned hotter than usual. Coca-Cola import Tee McClary gave Ildefonso an elbow to the back.
More angry than hurt, Ildefonso turned around and hit McClary with a short crisp right cross on the jaw, ala Manny Pacquiao, sending the pudgy Coca-Cola import to the floor.
Both players were assessed flagrant foul 2 penalties, automatically ejected and summoned by PBA Commissioner Noli Eala to appear one after the other Thursday afternoon at his office to explain their unsportsmanlike behavior.
“Danny (Ildefonso) actually head-butted him (McClary) at the other end prior to that incident,” said Coca-Cola coach Chot Reyes.
It looked like the Beermen would finally get the chance to come back after McClary was ejected but the Tigers were more fired up hiking their lead to as much as 28 points close to the end of the third period.
McClary still managed 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists despite seeing action for a total of just 26 minutes.
“We weren’t even focused on winning the game-just on playing like we always did,” said Reyes. “We needed to get back to our game which means playing hard especially on defense.
We contested every move, every pass, and that fueled our offense.”
The Tigers scored an all-time high 42 points off the 30 turnovers committed by the Beermen. San Miguel Beer’s previous most turnovers in a game this conference was only 21.
Without Johnson the Tigers virtually toyed with the Beermen posting a big 20-point bubble, 55-35, as early as the second quarter.
Jeff Cariaso led the Tigers with 22 points, while Rudy Hatfield chipped in 17 markers.
For Beermen, Olsen Racela was the only double-digit scorer with 21 points. Nic Belasco had nine points while Arnold Gamboa and Ildefonso had eight points apiece.
The scores:
Coke 103 — Cariaso 22, McClary 19, Hatfield 17, Hawkins 10, Morano 9, Avenido 7, Hugnatan 5, Abarrientos 4, Wainwright 3, Juinio 3, Reavis 3, Antonio 1, Chia 0.
San Miguel 79 — Racela 21, Belasco 9, Gamboa 8, Ildefonso 8, Hontiveros 7, Victoria 6, Pena 6, Legaspi 5, Gahol 5, Mente 4, Paras 0. Quarterscores: 29-23, 55-39, 85-58, 103-79.
