source: pba.ph
The year is ending with San Miguel Beer on top of the heap. The Beermen outplayed the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the crunch, squeezing out a 91-86 win in overtime to grab the lead over the Alaska Milk Aces in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
Jonas Villanueva, Dorian Pena and Arwind Santos delivered the key baskets as the Beermen avenged an 86-98 loss to the Kings in their initial encounter thus surging to the top in the leader board with a 12-3 win-loss card. Earlier in the day, Coca-Cola picked up from it left off the last time out and pulled off a mind-boggling 105-92 rout of erstwhile leader Alaska Milk.
The Aces were stalled at 11-2. "It's a good feeling we got through this game and we ended the year on a winning note," said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen. The Beermen and the Aces, the leaders in the race for the two outright semifinal berths, won't be back in action until January. Ginebra failed to regain a share of third place with Talk n Text (9-5) and instead slid to joint fourth with Purefoods at 8-6.
The Kings blew away a chance to win the game in regulation play with Cyrus Baguio missing a shot on a one-on-one play versus Dondon Hontiveros in the closing seconds. Villanueva, earlier, slipped past two defenders to make it 81-all with 6.7 seconds left.
The former FEU stalwart finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-of-8 field-goal shooting and 2-of-2 clip from the stripe. Santos, Mike Cortez and Denok Miranda added at least 12 points each for the Beermen -- now the hottest team in the league winning 12 of their last 13 games.
"We're now enjoying our good mix of talented veterans and young recruits," said Tanquingcen. "Palitan ang pumuputok and it's really a good sign for us." Ronald Tubid knocked in five triples and led all scorers with 21 points. Surprisingly, the Kings opted to go to Baguio on crucial moments, and the former UST star failed to deliver.
Down by three at 86-89, the Kings eventually yielded the game on back-to-back errors by Baguio. The Tianjin Fiba Asia veteran finished with only six points on 3-of-14 shooting. (SB)
The scores:
San Miguel 91 - Villanueva 17, Santos 14, Cortez 14, Miranda 12, Pena 9, Washington 8, Hontiveros 6, Pennisi 5, Racela 4, Seigle 2, Holper 0, Tugade 0.
Ginebra 86 - Tubid 14, Wilson 13, Intal 11, Mamaril 7, Baguio 6, Menk 6, Cruz 5, Salvacion 5, White 4, Abarrientos 4, Alvarez 2, Villanueva 2.
Quarterscores: 21-24, 39-47, 64-66, 81-81, 91-86
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