San Miguel spills Alaska to grab 3-0 Finals edge

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Time to chill the bubbly. Or the beer.

Holding the enemy to the minimum when it truly mattered, San Miguel Beer all but put the PBA Governors’ Cup title in the bag after nipping the hard-fighting Alaska Aces, 96-89, for a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven title playoffs Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen held the Aces to 12 fourth quarter points—and to a scoreless spell that stretched for more than five minutes—as they turned an 81-85 deficit going into the final 7:47 into a convincing victory that moved the franchise to within another win of a 21st league title.

“I can’t say anything more about my players—they really worked hard for this one,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria told reporters in Filipino. “They simply refused to give up.”

Alaska was valiant but was vanquished yet again, failing to hold on to that four-point edge with that long dry spell that made the Aces the 12th team overall in league history to go down 0-3 in a best-of-seven title series.

And of the 11 teams that were forced into that hole, none have ever crawled out. Only one team, the 1997 Alaska crew, was able to take it to a sixth game before eventually bowing to Gordon’s Gin, 4-2.

“Like I have been saying before, you need four wins to win this,” Austria said, when pressed to declare that this series is over.

Arizona Reid fired 41 points and plucked down 12 rebounds, and June Mar Fajardo, who will be crowned the MVP for the second straight year on Friday, had 14 and 19 for the Beermen.

Reid, who narrowly lost the Best Import award to Alaska’s Romeo Travis just two nights before, scored eight points in the telling 10-0 run—despite missing four free throws along the way—that turned that 81-85 deficit into a 91-85 lead going into the final 2:54.

“They’ve been winning the grind-it-out type of games,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said.

Travis again struggled in his one-on-one match up against Reid, finishing with just 17 points and going scoreless in the fourth period. Calvin Abueva contributed 15 for the Aces, who also got 12 points from Sonny Thoss.

The potential series-clinching game is scheduled Friday also at the Big Dome and Compton is not about to just have his Aces rolling over.

“One of our building blocks is honor—we will honor the game, we will go out there and play (and try to win). There’s a first in everything,” Compton said. “I like swinging for the fences. We’re going to play like we know how.

“If San Miguel is to win this series, they have to earn it. “

The scores:
SAN MIGUEL BEER 96—Reid 41, Fajardo 14, Cabagnot 13, Lassiter 8, Santos 8, Espinas 6, Lutz 2, Tubid 2, Semerad 2, Ross 0.
ALASKA 89—Travis 17, Abueva 15, Thoss 12, Banchero 8, Casio 7, Manuel 6, Dela Rosa 6, Baguio 5, Exciminiano 4, Menk 4, Hontiveros 3, Jazul 2, Dela Cruz 0.
Quarters: 25-21, 48-52, 76-77, 96-89