MANILA: All of a sudden, the race for automatic Final Four berths in the Fiesta Cup has become wide open.
Yes, San Miguel, which looked a shoo-in just a week ago, is not safely in.
And yes, defending champion Barangay Ginebra, which looked like a goner just a month back, is now in the thick of things.
The Beermen suffered their second defeat in their last three games and the Gin Kings strung up their sixth straight victory on a night that greatly shook up the standings in the season-ending tournament at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
David Noel scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds, powering the Kings to a 116-109 win over Purefoods, even as Arwind Santos came up with the biggest plays on both ends in overtime to lead Burger King past San Miguel, 107-105.
Jay-Jay Helterbrand added 20 points and four more players scored 11 or more for Ginebra, which is now tied for seconds at 7-5 along with three others, including the Whoppers, just two full games behind the Beermen with all sides having two games remaining in their respective elimination round schedules.
“The streak has enabled us creep within the leaders, so to speak,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told reporters. “Losses (by the other teams) have helped our cause also, that’s why we have to make the most out of the situation.
“We need to come into each and every game (remaining in our schedule) taking our A-Game with us.”
Ginebra was in control all night and took several 10-point leads in the fourth quarter which it protected to the very end by shutting down Marquin Chandler when it truly mattered.
The Tender Juicy Giants and idle Rain or Shine are the two other teams in that second place logjam a 7-5, with Talk ‘N Text and Sta. Lucia just another game back at 6-6 and with mathematical chances of gaining outright playoff slots.
Santos, meanwhile, after struggling for most of the game, hit the game-winner with 4.4 seconds left, just a few moments after smothering a three-point attempt by Dondon Hontiveros on the other end with the score tied at 105.
San Miguel slipped to 9-2 and is still in the lead. But what looked like an unbeatable record just more than a week before is now suddenly being threatened, with the top playoff slot previously conceded by most everyone now looking unsafe.
It was the second loss in the last three games for the Beermen, who opened up the tournament with eight straight wins and actually moved within two more victories of tying a franchise-best 10-0 start.
“This win gives us a lot of confidence,” Burger King coach Yeng Guiao said. “We just have to keep believing that we can make it. We need two more wins to make it.”
Last night’s double-header was witnessed by close to 14,000 fans, who got a great treat because of the close nature of both games.
Helterbrand scored the Kings’ final four points from the stripe, this after the Giants continued to fight hard behind James Yap and PJ Simon in the endgame when Chandler was kept in check by the swarming Ginebra defense.
The last of those 10-point Ginebra leads came at 108-98, and that proved enough buffer for the Kings, who won this tournament with a 7-foot import last year and would try to repeat with a reinforcement that is one of the shortest in Noel.
But size has not seemed to faze the former North Carolina Tar Heel, at least not in his first four games.
Noel, who also ruled the Slam Dunk contest in the All-Star Week, had 18 of his total in the first half, getting the Kings started on the right foot and off to one of their most impressive outings thus far.
