A game with wild momentum swings—and a bizarre fan incident in between—was fittingly capped by a wild finish.
Marc Barroca nailed a jumper at the buzzer as Magnolia slipped past San Miguel Beer, 88-86, to take a 3-2 Philippine Cup Finals series lead on Friday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“I love that guy. He’s not afraid to shoot,” coach Victolero said. “Saktong, sakto ‘yung tira.”
Barroca finished with 22 points, his same output in a humbling Game 4 loss to the defending champions, to lead the Hotshots to within a win of knocking the crown off the Beermen’s heads.
“It was a miracle shot. I know that when they have some runs, we just needed to weather the storm,” Barroca said. “This is the ballgame we wanted—as close as possible—to just have that chance in the end.”
The roller-coaster game, which featured huge runs by both squads, moved to bizarre—and scary—territory when a fan in Spider-man costume stormed the court, accidentally hitting June Mar Fajardo and causing a wild commotion.
He was chased and detained by security personnel and an apparent companion was dragged from his seat and also detained.
That seemed to spark Fajardo, who hit a three-point play and keyed a run that had San Miguel swallowing a 13-point lead and tying the game at 86 on a Terrence Romeo triple.
But the Beermen came up with several dry possessions, including one where Magnolia set up camp around Fajardo down low and when the five-time MVP made the exit pass, none of San Miguel’s gunners dared pull the trigger.
Those flubbed opportunities led to the Magnolia possession with 14 seconds remaining that set the stage for Barroca’s heroics.
But even with momentum on the Hotshots’ side, Victolero refused to be complacent.
“Yes,” he said about being one game away from the title. “But we know San Miguel. They won’t go down that easily.”
Meanwhile, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) is looking at a couple of friendly games with European powerhouses to prepare Gilas Pilipinas for the Fiba World Cup in China.
“[We are] in touch with Andrei Kirilenko. He wants us to go to Russia,” said SBP president Al Panlilio on Wednesday.
“Initially, it was just a one-game trip. We were [partial about it] but they said they’re willing to expand it to two games,” he added. “It’s something we’re trying to finalize with Andrei.”
Kirilenko, a former NBA star, now serves as the president of Russia’s basketball federation.
Panlilio said the SBP is also eyeing a friendly against 2006 World Cup champion Spain.
Gilas Pilipinas is in Group D play Angola, Italy and Serbia.