Thursday, October 12, 2006 SLR dumps SMB for second win
WITH the two mighty Dannys in the injured list, San Miguel Beer (SMB) blew away its chance to barge into the win column as it bowed to the Sta. Lucia Realtors (SLR), 95-98, in last night’s Talk ’N Text PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Realtors now tote a 2-0 win-loss slate to share the lead, while the Beermen dropped to 0-2.
Solo lead
Sta. Lucia shares the lead with the Ginebra Kings, Talk ’N Text and Red Bull. The Kings were still playing the Air21 Express for solo leadership at press time last night.
The Realtors got a good start in the first period and extended their lead to 10, at the close of the first half, 50-40.
Sta. Lucia didn’t let up on their oofense as they started another attack, this time led by Fil-Am Kelly Williams, who was helped by Cesar Catli and veterans Marlou Aquino and Dennis Espino, as the Realtors stretched their lead to 17 with eight minutes to play.
The Beermen finally woke up and clawed its way back with an 11-2 run, propelled with Chris Calaguio’s back-to-back treys to trim the lead to 94-88, before closing in to within four, 96-92 in the last three minutes.
Both teams failed to convert any basket in the succeeding two minutes before Calaguio broke the impasse with a trey to put SMB close, 96-95, 1:05 left on the clock.
SMB’s defensive trap in the next play forced Norberto Omolon to miss as the shot clock dwindled down, preserving the one-point edge with 30.3 seconds left.
Williams tried to pad their lead with a drive to the basket but missed and Kiko Adriano sealed the rebound for the Beermen as time dwindled to 8.1.
Bungled
However, Gabby Espinas foiled their chance for a win after bungling his inbound pass after the time out. Dennis Espino was fouled in the next play and the veteran dropped his two charities for a 98-95 count with six ticks left.
SMB’s final attempt to extend the match to overtime was thwarted after Alex Cabagnot rejected Calaguio’s desperate trey to seal the win.
Catli finished with a game-high 16 points to lead the Realtors, while Calaguio scored 22 points, including five treys from seven attempts from the arc, for San Miguel. (JAF)
