MANILA, 16 June 2007 — Favors returned.
San Miguel and Talk ’N Text, beaten black-and-blue in their respective PBA Fiesta Cup quarterfinal series openers last Wednesday, came back with a vengeance last night and gave their foes the same kind of mangling.
The Beermen came out as hard as they could, dominating on both ends in posting a 111-89 romp over sister team Barangay Ginebra at the Cuneta Astrodome to take their best-of-three series to a deciding game.
And that was before Talk ‘N Text spewed fire from inside and out and sent Air21 crashing back to Mother Earth with a loud thud after a 108-92 steamrollering in the second game, which also took their pairing to a rubber match.
“I guess we got to live another day,” said San Miguel’s soft-spoken Siot Tanquingcen, who is bracing himself for a war like no other tomorrow in Game 3 scheduled at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“For sure, coach Jong (Uichico) will come back stronger in the next game,” Tanquingcen, who won his first two titles as a coach with the Gin Kings, added. “It’s going to be a fight to the end.” Ginebra suffered its ugliest beating in the tournament, as the Kings were a sorry sight to the eyes - missing wide open shots and giving up wide open layups — as the Beermen even led by as many as 26 points late in the fourth period.
San Miguel, meanwhile, was playing with complete control, even with import Galen Young electing to take just four shots from the field to finish with a tournament-low eight points in such a big game.
Young got the entire local crew involved, as defensive stopper Francis Adriano scored 16 points to lead the Beermen. Adriano was actually one of four players who came off the bench to finish in twin digits for San Miguel.
Enrico Villanueva, Olsen Racela, Chris Calaguio and Danny Ildefonso all added 14 each, while LA Tenorio, the rookie who has slowly but surely taken over the quarterbacking chores, tossed in 10.
Young, the hero in San Miguel’s 102-101 victory over Coca-Cola in the wildcard phase, was held to a tournament-low eight points after taking just four shots from the field. But he made up for it by grabbing nine rebounds and feeding seven times. He also had two swats.
“It’s not about our import (Young) scoring, it’s all about everyone contributing and that was the key tonight,” added Tanquingcen.
Rod Nealy, despite displaying some sluggishness, paced Ginebra with 23 points and 13 rebounds. But it was clear that the left-handed import did not try to take over the game like he did in Game 1, which ended in a 113-87 romp by the Gin Kings. Starting center Eric Menk hit only five points like Johnny Abarrientos, and Sunday Salvacion was good for only three.
Abarrientos and Salvacion were responsible for a combined four triples in the Game 1 win.
Up by 11 after two quarters at 58-47, the Beermen raced to a 78-53 lead heading into the final 5:01 of the period after Villanueva sailed in for a left-handed layup to finish a 3-on-2 break.
And the closest the reigning Philippine Cup champion Kings could come to after that was 67-81, after five straight Nealy points as the Beermen scored nine unanswered points connecting the third and fourth quarters for a safe 90-67 lead entering the final 11 minutes.
The Phone Pals, meanwhile, were firing on all cylinders, getting six players in double digits led by the electrifying JJ Sullinger’s 21 points.
Talk ‘N Text methodically broke away in the second half and avenged a 102-121 Game 1 defeat as the Express played with obviously lesser fire compared to Wednesday when they were connecting from all fronts.
“We didn’t play defense the last time, especially in the third quarter,” Talk ‘N Text coach Derrick Pumaren said. “I am very happy with the effort and the energy we displayed tonight. We played our tempo. We were under control and in control.”
