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SAN MIG
Coffee won’t allow another miraculous comeback by the
hard-fighting Toyota Otis five.
The
Coffee Kings played with more aggressiveness and
cohesion in their do-or-die battle to secure a 64-68 win
over the
Sparks
in a physical quarterfinal match Wednesday in the 2008
Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino
Sports Cup at the
Oreta Sports Center
in Malabon City.
The
victory shoved San Mig Coffee to the best-of-five
semifinal series against top seed Harbour Centre, while
ending Toyota’s five-straight semifinal stints in the
league.
The
other semifinal matchup between Hapee Toothpaste and
Burger King starts on Friday at the Tarlac State
University Gym in Tarlac City.
The
Coffee Kings kept their composure when Toyota staged
another rally in the fourth quarter—just like in their
previous encounter in Batangas—and sank their free
throws at crunchtime to seal the victory.
“We just
stuck to the game plan. In one day, you cannot do a lot
of adjustments and the players believe that we can win
this game,” said San Mig Coffee head coach Koy Banal,
who got a fitting birthday gift from his players with
the victory.
“We’ve
been in this situation before and I had no doubts in my
players that they can pull this one,” Banal added.
Bonbon
Custodio had a sterling all-around game with 18 points
and nine rebounds, while Neil Raneses contributed 17.
Banal also drew solid contributions from Jaypee Alcaraz
and Ford Arao, who chipped in 10 markers apiece.
Arao had
13 rebounds and played big in the closing seconds as he
hit two crucial free throws that gave the Coffee Kings a
66-60 breather with 27.1 ticks left.
The
Sparks, who forced a winner-take-all match with a
come-from-behind 89-86 win on Monday in Tanauan City in
Batangas, appeared headed for another miracle of a
vicory after climbing from a 12-point deficit in the
first half for a 49-47 lead late in the third period.
But the
Coffee Kings proved unloaded a 12-2 run for a commanding
59-51 advantage with 6:45 left. They never relinquish
the lead after that.
The
Sparks last threatened at 64-60 on Chito Jaime’s
double-pump undergoal basket before the teams exchanged
empty possessions. Arao then sealed the victory with two
free throws.
Jaime,
Erick Rodriguez and RJ Jazul each had 12 points for
Toyota, which committed 31 turnovers that translated to
25 points for San Mig Coffee.
The game
was halted for about 15 minutes as half of the venue
lights malfunctioned early in the first period.
Toyota
marksman Patrick Cabahug was ejected after incurring two
technical fouls, the first for trading shoves with
Custodio in the first quarter and the second in the
third period after exchanging heated words with Arao. |
