Beermen steal show from underdogs

Underdogs turned the recent resumption of the PBA Philippine Cup into an exciting, lively week but San Miguel Beer just refused to follow the happy trend.

Playing minus their vaunted fire and stingy defense, the Beermen struggled against the TNT KaTropa at University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo on Saturday, trailing by 12 points several times before putting it all together in a 17-5 closing run to secure their third straight victory.

Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter struck hardest in the clutch of the 88-76 win that kept the Beermen unbeaten in their pursuit of a record fourth consecutive All-Filipino crown.

Despite the scrambling finish, SMB has been conceded one of the top four slots after the eliminations that will earn twice-to-beat bonus against the other four squads that will advance to the quarterfinals.

And a tight race for the three other premium slots in the quarterfinals has taken shape with Magnolia in solo second place at 3-1 and Barangay Ginebra, Phoenix and Blackwater sharing third spot with 2-1 win-loss records.

Blackwater was the biggest achiever of the week with back-to-back conquests of Rain or Shine (92-87) and Ginebra (94-77) after a 103-98 loss to Meralco.

After dropping its first two games under new coach Louie Alas, Phoenix displayed its true worth by inflicting a 102-95 first loss on NLEX, which got off to a 2-0 start behind a retooled lineup now led by crack rookie Kiefer Ravena.

And the opposition toughened up some more as Alaska and GlobalPort finally crashed the winner’s row.

The Aces snapped a four-game losing streak dating from the last Governors’ Cup by downing Meralco, 103-98, and GlobalPort, with Stanley Pringle firing 29 points, finally won minus the injured Terrence Romeo by turning back Rain or Shine, 78-70. They made it two in a row and are now at tied with the Road Warriors at 2-2 with a 102-65 dumping of winless Kia Picanto on Sunday.

TNT and Rain or Shine are not expected to stay long in the company of GlobalPort at 1-2 but there seems no getting out of the cellar for Kia, which lost Chris Gavina as coach before the tournament started then lost their first four games under new mentor Ricky Dandan.

The third Picanto loss from the Magnolia Hotshots showed Kia had no need for first pick Chris Standhardinger in the rookie draft so the Filipino-German had to be traded. What the team actually needs are 10 Standhardingers after the Hotshots mangled the Picanto,

124-77. The 47-point blowout loss was the second from Magnolia, who also inflicted a 15th straight loss on Kia.