MANILA, 13 November 2004 — San Miguel Beer hacked out an 88-82 win against Purefoods in their road game in the Grand Matador-PBA Philippine Cup at the Leyte National High School Gym in Tacloban City Thursday.
Four Beermen in Danny Ildefonso, Nic Belasco, Danny Seigle and Olsen Racela did much of the job as San Miguel bounced back from a 109-103 loss to Fedex and regained fourth spot with a 5-4 win-loss record.
The Hotdogs failed to come up with a follow-up of their 93-91 Houdini act versus Alaska in their last game, sliding to joint fifth place with the Express at 4-4.
For Seigle, who has been slowed down by Achilles heel injuries these last two years, it turned out to be his comeback party as he displayed his old deadly form, finishing with 18 points. For Racela, it became a momentous game, as he made it to the PBA’s elite 5,000-Point Club by scoring 16 points, becoming the 51st player to hit the milestone. The former Ateneo star hit the 5,000-point plateau with a triple exactly seven minutes left to play, getting the mark just 10 days after turning 34 and against the very same team he started his professional career with in 1993.
Seigle and Racela themselves got the Beermen to a furious start, rifling in long bombs as the team raced to a 29-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. By the next three quarters, there were Ildefonso and Belasco joining the fray as San Miguel kept safe cushions up to the finish.
Falling behind by 19 points in the second half, the closest Purefoods could get was six in the final period before eventually yielding the game. Rookie James Yap, who led all scorers with a career-high 24 inclusive of four threes, fueled Purefoods’ fourth quarter chase to no avail. The Hotdogs continued its winless spell in Tacloban City, having also dropped a 97-93 to Talk N Text in the very same venue last April 1 during the Fiesta Conference eliminations.
Meanwhile, aside from being regarded as one of the few silent superstars in the league, Victor Pablo will always be remembered as a favorite trade bait by teams he played for.
But with Asi Taulava yet to be given the green light to play, Pablo will most likely assume the leader’s role for Talk N Text — and possibly make the Phone Pals his permanent home.
The 6-4 Pablo is expected to unravel another A-game when the Phone Pals meet the short-handed but dangerous Red Bull Barakos in the PBA Philippine Cup.
