Gee, the Beermen are still alive

MANILA, Philippines—With another coaching change, San Miguel Beer hacked out a 96-94 decision over Alaska in Game 5 Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum to extend their best-of-seven championship series for the PBA Fiesta Conference to a sixth game.   Gee Abanilla, the second man in this tournament to give head coach Siot Tanquingcen a spell, gave Alaska coach Tim Cone a new problem right in the first half and then watched his wards furiously hold off the Aces’ in the stretch to lead the Beermen to within 3-2 in the series.   Alaska can still finish off San Miguel in Game 6 Wednesday.   Gabriel Freeman scattered 18 points and had 14 rebounds and Denok Miranda finished with 12 points and five assists in a rare start at the point to give the Beermen a lift.   Miranda, the former Far Eastern U ace guard, went on to drain a jumper that gave SMB the lead for good at 96-90 with 2:14 left.   “I just did my job,” Miranda said in Filipino. “Even when I wasn’t used that much in the eliminations and semifinals, I continued to work hardand improve on what I needed to improve.”   Alaska had a chance to clinch the series and its first championship since 2006, but Cyrus Baguio’s three-pointer at the buzzer fell just short.   It was the second of two consecutive stops by the Beermen to preserve the win when their offense failed them after Mrinada’s jumper.   In a previous defensive play, Jay Washington drew an offensive foul off Baguio to allow San Miguel to hold on to a two-point edge.   “Alaska will make the adjustments,” Abanilla told reporters after notching his first win in a title series. He also had spells calling the shots for Red Bull under Yeng Guiao, but never in a game this big.   “(Alaska coach) Tim (Cone) is a very brilliant coach and will use technical and motivational adjustments,” Abanilla, who said he expects to again be at the San Miguel helm on Wednesday, added. “I think a coach who can motivate and bring out the best in his players will be successful in the next game.”   Diamon Simpson scored 29 points and cleared 18 boards for the Aces, who, as Cone said, did not play their “AAA game to beat San Miguel.”   “We just didn’t play well enough to win tonight,” Cone said. “We had the last shot but came up short. Generally throughout the game they outplayed us. But our guys didn’t quit and that’s good. We’ll see if we can close it out on Wednesday.”   This marked the second time that the Beermen went on a “coaching change” to try change their fortunes.   Management also pulled off a similar move after San Miguel lost two straight games in the eliminations with Ato Agustin taking over for at least two games, only to give Tanquingcen back the reins when the NCAA season opened.   Agustin is the head coach of San Sebastian, the defending champion, and league rules specifically prohibit PBA head coaches from calling the shots with any other team in any league.   Alaska, whose last title came in this tournament four seasons ago with Rosell Ellis, trailed by as many as nine points early as Dondon Hontiveros, “missing” in the first four games of the series, knocked in eight points in the first period.   Hontiveros came into last night’s game averaging just 3.5 points in the first four games.   After Alaska had erased a 21-30 deficit early in the second quarter with Simpson and Tenorio on the bench, the Beermen came back and opened up the same margin, 46-37, after two Freeman free throws with under three minutes left.   The half ended with the Beermen sitting on an 11-point lead, a luxury considering how tight this series has been played. San Miguel’s Game 3 win, 96-80, was the most lopsided as the others—all of them Alaska victories—have all gone down the wire.   The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 96—Washington 19, Freeman 18, Santos 13, Miranda 12, Hontiveros 11, Ildefonso 10, Pennisi 9, Cabagnot 2, Yeo 2, Villanueva 0, Pena 0.
ALASKA 94—Simpson 29, De Vance 15, Baguio 14, Tenorio 10, Hugnatan 10, Borboran 7, Dela Cruz 6, Fonacier 0, Thoss 0, Cariaso 0.
Quarters: 26-21, 50-39, 75-69, 96-94