Thursday, December 14, 2006 Beermen exact revenge on Dragons
THE San Miguel Beermen showed how mean they can be when playing defense.
After a leisurely first half, the Beermen poured their efforts on the defensive end in the third quarter, propelling them to their fifth consecutive victory -- a 97-85 romp over the Welcoat Dragons Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Danny Seigle went 8-for-11 from the floor and 11-for-11 from the free throw line to show the way for San Miguel with 28 points.
Romel Adducul contributed 12 points and Dorian Pena tallied 11 points and grabbed as many rebounds as the Beermen got back at the Dragons, who defeated the Seigle-less SMB squad 96-88 in their first meeting last Oct. 15.
But more importantly, by improving to 11-5 (win-loss) record – San Miguel Beer solidified its hold of the No. 2 spot, bringing the Beermen closer to an outright semifinal berth in the Talk ‘N Text-PBA Philippine Cup.
Just got lucky
“We never think of this. We just got lucky because the early leaders started losing. And since we’re in this position we might as well make the most out of it,” offered SMB head coach Chot Reyes after the game.
Nevertheless, the end result didn’t seem enough to please Reyes.
“If we will play just this kind of game against Talk ‘N Text we won’t stand a chance,” he said obviously referring to his troops’ lack of intensity and enthusiasm in dealing with the Dragons.
The Phone Pals defeated the Beermen, 90-84, in their first meeting last November 19 and Reyes is eagerly looking at Sunday’s rematch as chance for his troops to get even, just like they did against Welcoat.
The turning point of the game came in the third quarter when San Miguel Beer after playing catch-up in the first half, held the Dragons to a 7-of-21 shooting from the field and forced them into six turnovers in the third quarter while outscoring Welcoat, 29-20.
No time wasted
After Nino Gelig made two free throws to give Welcoat a 50-46 lead at the start of the third period, San Miguel wasted no time in responding with an 18-2 run which game them a 64-52 advantage from which Welcoat never recovered. Danny Ildefonso, who also missed their first meeting against the Dragons because of an injury, tallied seven points, four rebounds, three assists, two shotblocks while Pena added four points in that decisive spurt.
Jay-R Reyes scored 15 points on just a 4-of-12 shooting from the floor and Denver Lopez and Joey Mente added 12 apeice for Welcoat, which made just 31-of-82 attempts from the field.
It was a frustrating loss for the Dragons, who picked up their eighth consecutive loss and 14th overall in 17 games, virtually eliminating them in the race with Coca-Cola for the fourth and last spot in the wildcard phase of the elims.
As things stand now, Welcoat’s only chance to be able to get to the next phase is to win its last game against Air 21 on Christmas Day and hope that the Coca-Cola Tigers drop their last two games to forge a playoff for that last spot in the wildcard phase.
