MANILA, 24 April 2006 — No one has found a way to stop Danny Seigle of late, and the San Miguel string has just gotten longer.
The Beermen won for the seventh straight time last night after Seigle hit 10 of his 27 markers in the fourth period of a 105-99 victory over Talk ‘N Text in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Seigle hurt the Phone Pals in the second half, actually shooting 11 in the third canto before that brilliance in the deciding frame lifted the Beermen to their ninth win in 11 games overall.
The win not only put the Beermen within another victory of matching their longest winning streak in years, it also cut the Phone Pals down to size by snapping Talk ‘N Text’s own run at three games.
“It was Danny’s (Seigle) night again,” San Miguel coach Jong Uichico said. “But overall, it was a complete team effort, especially on the defensive end, that did the job for us.”
San Miguel remained firmly on top of the standings, keeping sister team Purefoods within arm’s length in the overall standings even after a 69-64 win by the Chunkee Giants over Alaska in Roxas City on Saturday.
Kerby Raymundo shoved Purefoods to a 63-62 lead to stay with 3:30 left, capping a mighty rally by the Giants, who improved to 7-3.
The Aces, struggling ever since bombarding San Miguel on opening day last March 5, slipped to 4-6 after blowing control again.
Raymundo finished with 14 points and Noy Castillo backed him up with 13. Reynel Hugnatan’s 12 markers were enough to pace the Aces in the low-scoring road game that played to a big crowd at the Capiz gym.
While San Miguel extended the longest winning streak Air21 finally got its act together and snapped one of the longest run of the losing kind later in the night by bringing down Coca-Cola.
Nino Canaleta “posterized” the Tigers in the fourth period, scoring on a wide array of slam dunks that highlighted a 107-88 victory, the Express’ first in four games.
Ren-Ren Ritualo scored 19 points and led five others in double digits for the Express, who improved to 4-7. Coke dropped to 6-4 before the league takes a break for All-Star Week scheduled in Misamis Oriental.
The Express broke away in the second period with their brothers frontline Ranidel and Yancy de Ocampo leading the way.
From 20-22 at the end of the first, Air21 got six points from Yancy and 10 from Ranidel in a 30-point quarter that had the Express zooming to a 50-39 lead at the lemontime break.
It was all Air21 after that and 11 Wynne Arboleda points in the third compounded matter for the Tigers, who trailed by as many as 23 points at one point and were never able to get back into the fight.
Canaleta, the reigning slam dunk champion, scored on a two-handed, double-pumping slam first, a right-handed tomahawk jam next before another two-handed flush got the Big Dome crowd up on its feet.
He finished with 18 markers on the strength of a 12-point fourth period. Arboleda matched that total while Yancy wound up with 16 and Ranidela 13. Mark Telan was the other Express in twin figures with 12. John Arigo led the Tigers with 19 points.
