MANILA: San Miguel moved within a win of landing a championship series berth for the first time in more than two years after proving that it can win close games against a team that thrives in close contests.
The Beermen scored four free throws in the final 35.5 seconds of the second overtime to pound out a 120-119 victory over Burger King and take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven PBA Motolite Fiesta Cup semifinal series at the Araneta Coliseum.
Afterwards, coach Siot Tanquingcen talked in a somewhat strong manner in what seemed like an obvious reply to what Burger King mentor Yeng Guiao has been saying ever since the end of Game 1 of the series.
“A lot of things have been said (by Guiao) about getting the games close and (them) winning toward the end,” Tanquingcen said. “This game showed the heart that this team has. San Miguel has a lot of championships to prove it.
“”This game showed that it doesn’t mean that if we don’t blow teams out (off the floor) we can’t win,” he continued. “This team has heart. Close games suit us well also.”
San Miguel, in fact, played a good part of the fourth quarter and the two extensions without import Gabe Freeman and two big men - Mick Pennisi who was thrown out in the second quarter and Dorian Pena who was disqualified because of fouls.
And the Beermen also expended a lot of energy in the contest, needing to erase a 19-point first half deficit and then blowing a 12-point third quarter lead before turning to the free throw line to pound out the win.
Jonas Villanueva and Dondon Hontiveros each made two crucial charities inside the final 35.5 seconds and Gary David had a critical split from the stripe which ultimately spelled the difference in the game - and possibly the series as well.
Though a 3-1 lead has been erased before, it seems that San Miguel already has a lock on this one considering how well the Beermen are playing and how strong they are on paper.
But Tanquingcen refused to rest on his laurels.
“No, it’s still far from over,” he said. “One thing I learned in this game, which is also a great metaphor in life, is that you can’t take things for granted.”
Burger King had a lot of chances to win, one in regulation when it had possession in the final 10.1 seconds when the score was tied at 98, and another near the end of the first overtime when the count was pegged at 109-all.
The Whoppers also showed they have the heart, going scoreless for the first 3:05 of the second overtime to trail by seven and tie it all up for the last time at 116 after an Arwind Santos triple with 55.8 seconds remaining.
Villanueva was then fouled by David for the first pair of those free throws before David missed answering on the other end by rattling out his first attempt.
Burger King then stole off Mike Cortez in the ensuing inbound, but rookie Mark Yee was called for an offensive foul off Cortez, leading to Hontiveros’ free throws with 10.1 seconds to go.
Santos went on to lead the Whoppers with 29 markers, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Shawn Daniels added 18 points and 22 rebounds, while Eric Rodriguez chipped in with career-highs of 20 points and 11 boards.
And while the San Miguel-Burger King series is close to producing a winner, the Barangay Ginebra vs Rain or Shine setto just got tighter after the defending champion Gin Kings dug deep to tie the series at 2-all.
Jayjay Helterbrand scattered 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Kings held the Elasto Painters to a conference-low output in an 86-70 win that swung momentum back on their side also with Game 5 up tomorrow.
The Kings led by as many as 66-41 in the third period for the first rout of this series, one which very few expected considering how close the first three games were played.
“We now know things won’t be as easy as we thought it would be,” coach Jong Uichico said. “They also know we’ve got to get our acts together because Rain or Shine is really a tough team and they just keep going after you. “It’s good we were able to survive this game. It would have been very difficult to come back had we lost again.”
Uichico said that he asked his players to bring hunger and desire to the table because he felt that they played without them in the first three games. “In the first three games parang ganu’n lumalabas, na hungrier sila kaysa sa amin,” noted Uichico. “So I posed the question to my players: ‘What’s going to bring us back into the fight?’
Ronald Tubid added 14 points before being ejected with two technical fouls and Sunday Slavacion chipped in eight points during Ginebra’s mighty third quarter assault, helping the team make up for David Noel’s 10-point outing.
