SAN Miguel Beerman star Dondon Hontiveros believes they need mental toughness more than anything else if they are to prevail over sister team Barangay Ginebra in their ongoing best-of-seven title showdown for the 2009 Motolite Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference crown.

“Against a talented and popular team like Ginebra, we have to be mentally tough and not rely only on sheer talent and ability in order to win because the only way we can offset Ginebra’s do-or-die type of game,” Hontiveros told Sun.Star Bacolod in a telephone interview Friday prior to the start of the second game in the series.

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“We dominated the conference from the start as you can see from our record but I guess we were not mentally prepared for the championships against Ginebra that’s why we faltered and failed to recover when they took control early in Game 1…. plus we were not able to sustain our come-from-behind effort in the end game,” he explained.

He also acknowledged they were not able to keep up with the intensity of the Gin Kings when they took control early.

He pointed to Jayjay Helterbrand and Paul Artadi whom he said carried Ginebra in their blistering start in Game 1. “Sunday Salvacion, Cyrus Baguio, David Noel (import) and Ronald Tubid played heroics for them at the homestretch,” Hontiveros added.

Helterbrand led all scorers en route to the Gin Kings’ first game win tallying 21 points, while Baguio, Tubid, Artadi and Noel also finished in double figures.

Ginebra and San Miguel are considered as the two most popular PBA teams and the conference championship will decide which is the league’s best team. (HCV)

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on July 4, 2009.