MANILA, 30 March 2006 — Danny Seigle missed a triple double by just two assists and Sta. Lucia missed Kenneth Duremdes terribly as San Miguel ran over the inconsistent Realtors, 100-89, last night in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The 6-foot-7 Seigle tallied 21 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and issued eight feeds in the Beermen’s fourth victory in six games, which came quite easy with Duremdes out and the usually reliable Dennis Espino held to a season low.
Sta. Lucia dropped deeper in the cellar by losing for the fourth time in five outings and the cornerstone Espino did little to help after being held down to only two points and riding the bench a considerable amount of time because of foul trouble.
San Miguel thus took solo second place with the victory even as Red Bull climbed into a share of third spot at 3-2 with idle Purefoods after thumping Air21, 112-98, in the first game at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The game actually hung in the balance with under seven minutes left until San Miguel clustered eight unanswered points in a span of just over 20 seconds.
From 78-74, the Beermen zoomed ahead at 86-74 when Dondon Hontiveros hit a triple, Olsen Racela stole an inbounds pass for a short jumper and Danny Ildefonso completed another Racela steal with a tomahawk slam.
Racela stole off Espino, who fouled him while Ildefonso was going for the unmolested dunk. The San Miguel guard was awarded the bonus free throw for that 12-point spread with 6:05 left to play.
Duremdes sat out the game because of a sprained left ankle and Sta. Lucia is expecting the 1998 Most Valuable Player back Saturday at the soonest when the Realtors go out of town to play Air21 in Isabela. Hontiveros came out of his stupor and jumpstarted the San Miguel offense. The 6-foot-2 forward, who was averaging just 6.4 points a game coming into last night, hit nine points in the first quarter as the Beermen asserted themselves early.
Hontiveros finished with 22 points and five rebounds, while Ildefonso added 23 and Dorian Pena scattered 12 markers to go with 13 boards. Lordy Tugade hit 13 of his 17 points in the payoff frame as the Bulls broke away in the fourth quarter to deal the Express their second straight loss in a 2-4 card.
“I was ready to pull out Lordy (in the fourth quarter) in favor of Larry (Fonacier),” Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao said. “But after he hit those threes, I decided to stick with him.”
