ALASKA still found a June Mar Fajardo-less San Miguel Beer side a tough nut to crack, needing a huge effort on both ends in the stretch last night before pulling out a 100-91 victory for a 1-0 lead in their Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup title series.
The Aces closed the game with nine unanswered points inside the final 1:46 as the shorthanded Beermen finally succumbed to the relentless defense of Alaska in the dying minutes at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Fajardo, amid conflicting reports on the true status of his left knee injury, was asked to stay at home by coach Leo Austria.
The Beermen lost the battle off the boards horribly, 48-28, and didn’t have a go-to-guy that could deliver when the chips were down in the stretch.
Vic Manuel hit a layup with 1:46 left that shattered the game’s last tie at 91 and touched off that telling spurt with Alaska’s defense forcing San Miguel to take low-percentage long jumpers.
That basket was the 14th point of Manuel in the fourth period where Alaska unloaded 34 points that was more than double the 16-point output of the Beermen, who led 75-66 going into the payoff frame.
“San Miguel handled us for what, I don’t know how long,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said before letting out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness we had some stops (in the endgame).
“The box scores will be deceiving to anyone who didn’t watch the game,” Compton went on. “We just had some guys stepping up late (in the game).”
Game 2 is slated tomorrow also at the Big Dome, and Austria again gave hints that Fajardo could be reactivated as early as that game. Renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raul Canlas ruled out any major injuries after looking at the 6-foot-10 center’s MRI results.
Austria also didn’t mince words describing how important Fajardo is to his team.
“We really missed June Mar tonight,” said Austria before ruing their performance off the boards and their sloppy ball-handling.
GABBY Espinas of San Miguel goes for a shot off Vic Manuel (left, partly hidden) and Calvin Abueva of Alaska during Game 1 of their PBA Philippine Cup Finals series last night. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
The 28 SMB rebounds, according to chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III, turned out to be the lowest all-time mark in Finals history.
Fajardo, after suffering that twisted left knee in Game 6 of their Final Four series with Rain or Shine on Friday, had an average of close to 15 rebounds a contest.
JV Casio drilled a triple with 72 seconds left and Chris Banchero followed up a miss by Cyrus Baguio in the next Alaska offensive, sandwiching a missed three-pointer by Alex Cabagnot, as the Aces zoomed to a 98-91 lead with 39.8 to play.
“If we don’t take care of the ball better, it’s going to be 0-2 (after Tuesday),” Austria said of his Beermen, who committed 7 of their 19 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Cabagnot, who drilled his second three-pointer with 1:56 left to forge that 91-all tie, had 24 points to pace San Miguel, which also lost Arwind Santos to fouls with still 3:34 left.
Santos finished with just four points and five rebounds.
The scores:
ALASKA 100—Manuel 24, Baguio 16, Banchero 15, Abueva 12, Exciminiano 6, Jazul 6, Casio 5, Hontiveros 5, Menk 5, Thoss 4, Baclao 2, Dela Rosa 0.
SAN MIGUEL 91—Cabagnot 20, Lassiter 19, De Ocampo 18, Tubid 13, Espinas 11, Arana 4, Santos 4, Ross 2, Lutz 0, Semerad 0.
Quarters: 11-4, 42-38, 75-66, 100-91