MANILA, Philippines - Jay Washington hit a key basket and Arwind Santos came through with a defensive gem over Willer Miller at endgame as San Miguel Beer hacked out a 79-78 victory over Barangay Ginebra to close in on the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.
Down 77-78 after Rudy Hatfield scored on a basket off a Ronald Tubid feed with 28.7 seconds to go in the contest, the Beermen pulled through as Washington scored on a putback of his own miss, giving the lead back to San Miguel with 13.4 seconds left in the contest.
The Kings then set up a play for Miller, who eluded the taller Santos in the baseline but was blocked from behind by the Beerman, setting up a wild scramble for the loose ball that bounced in front of Hatfield.
The Ginebra mainstay failed to gain possession, the ball ending up with Dondon Hontiveros, who wisely dribbled away from the Gin Kings as time expired.
The win thus kept the Beermen on top at 9-2 (win-loss) while snapping the Kings’ six game-streak.
Ginebra dropped to 7-3.
Earlier, Alaska Milk built enough cushion in the fourth quarter to survive a late, furious Barako Bull rally, carving out an 87-76 victory for a share of fourth with B-Meg Derby Ace.
Cyrus Baguio and Joe De Vance, who finished with 19 and 16 points, respectively, combined for 13 points in a crucial stretch in the fourth as the Aces quelled the Energy Boosters’ fightback to book their fifth victory against the same number of losses.
Reed Juntilla scattered 12 of his topscoring 16 points in the last period as Barako Bull trimmed a 23-point deficit down to just eight points. But he was shut down by a pesky Alaska defense down the stretch and the Energy Boosters fell to their eighth loss against two wins.
After the win, Alaska coach Tim Cone stressed the need for his team to come up with a strong finishing kick.
“I want to talk to the team because I’m just not happy about the way we play especially in the fourth quarter, that’s been our Waterloo and we’re not really playing the fourth quarter well,” said Cone.
The victory also proved to be a fitting present to Alaska team owner Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, who turns 49 today.
Alaska jumped the gun early on Barako Bull and sustained its pace to post a 43-30 bulge at the break.
De Vance and LA Tenorio then combined in a torrid third quarter attack to make it 62-44 going into the final 12 minutes of the match.
The Aces posted two 23-point spreads, the last at 69-46 on a basket by De Vance.
But Juntilla struck with a series of baskets and Barako Bull threatened at 67-75 with 4:10 minutes remaining in the contest.
“Barako Bull is a well-coached team, they really run to the gauntlet against tough teams they faced before us and they never quit in any of those games,” said Cone.