DO OR DIE Arwind Santos of San Miguel Beer (right) hooks a pass against Alaska’s Calvin Abueva in last night’s winner-take-all Game 7. The Beermen won, 96-89, to complete an unprecedented four-game comeback and capture the Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup. (See story in Sports, Page A18.) AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Embarking on an uphill trek that seemed impossible, San Miguel Beer showed up for its date with history with all zest and ferociousness Wednesday night and firmly put the latest PBA dynasty in place.
Listed as goners two weeks ago, the magnificent Beermen completed an inverted sweep of Alaska in their best-of-seven title series for the Philippine Cup, and for the third time in the last four conferences, relegated the Aces as sorry footnotes to their domination.
San Miguel held fort in a furious Game 7 ending for a 96-89 victory, repeating as champion of the league’s most prestigious conference and doing it in a style previously unheard of in front of the season’s biggest crowd of 23,616 fans at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The Beermen broke away in the third period and held off a desperate Aces charge in the end as San Miguel completed a comeback that was labeled “beer-aculous” and gave the franchise a sixth all-Filipino title, tied with sister team Star/Purefoods/San Mig for the most all-time.
In overturning a 0-3 deficit, the Beermen won the Philippine Cup two straight seasons for the first time in their long PBA history and upped their all-time winningest mark to 22 titles, the last three coming under the watch of Leo Austria.
“We were down 0-3, and all we wanted was to win one (game),” Austria addressed the crowd. “[But] the players wanted to win another championship. This is a very historic win.”
The loss was most bitter to swallow for Alaska, much painful that the one it took last season when a triple by Arwind Santos with under 50 seconds left in Game 7 proved to be the difference.
Alaska became the first team to lose that commanding lead and the Aces will go into a much-needed break before the next conference left wondering what went wrong—again—against a San Miguel side they seemingly cannot conquer in a title series.
Chris Ross stepped up big time in the decider, knocking big shots in the stretch to finish with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists and bag the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Finals MVP award.
“I’d like to thank the Lord for He is good,” Alaska coach Alex Compton, ever gracious in defeat, said. “I’d like to thank Him for bringing me here, and giving me my guys that I can coach.”
Compton didn’t mince words in admitting how being on the losing end of the historic comeback pains him.
“I won an MVP and a championship in the MBA; I’ve had different girlfriends during that time, and you (media) all know that,” he said. “I had billboards and commercials, but I have never felt more empty in my life.”
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL BEER 96—Fajardo 21, Ross 21, Lassiter 15, Santos 13, Cabagnot 8, De Ocampo 7, Tubid 7, Espinas 2, Lutz 2, Heruela 0.
ALASKA 89—Banchero 21, Abueva 16, Baguio 10, Casio 8, Exciminiano 8, Hontiveros 6, Baclao 4, Jazul 4, Thoss 4, Dela Rosa 3, Manuel 3, Dela Cruz 2, Eman 0, Menk 0.
Quarters: 22-16, 43-38, 68-51, 96-89