SMB halfway in quest to enter PHL Cup finals

San Miguel Beer is now halfway in its quest to enter the PBA Philippine Cup finals. Drawing strength from the inside-outside combination of Jay Washington and Dondon Hontiveros, the Beermen scuttled Barangay Ginebra Kings for the second straight time, 108-102, to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven semifinals series Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Washington tied his career-best with 29 points, while Hontiveros also had the same output, built around 6-of-9 shooting from the three-point range, steering the Beermen to what coach Ato Agustin described as a key Game 2 victory. “Before the game I told the team that this is the key if we want to enter the Finals," said Agustin. “If we lose this game, it will put to waste our victory in Game One." San Miguel, seeded No. 2 going into the playoffs, won Wednesday’s series opener behind Alex Cabagnot’s bank shot in the dying seconds, 86-84, after the Kings committed a passing turnover. Despite the loss, Jong Uichico, Ginebra’s soft-spoken coach , isn’t about to push the panic button. “We’ve been here before. It’s nothing new. But we have to work harder. San Miguel has so many weapons to go to that we have to take care of." Unfortunately, the Kings forgot to take care of Washington and Hontiveros as the two led a 26-11 run bridging the third and fourth quarters of the highly physical encounter. Hontiveros scored 11 while Washington had 10 in that telling run, which Olsen Racela capped with a buzzer-beating triple at the end of the third. The run wiped away a 66-70 deficit and put the Beermen in control for good, 92-81, with 6:12 to go. But the Kings still had one fight left in them. A JC Intal three-pointer suddenly had the league’s most popular ballclub creeping to within 102-105 with 9.3 seconds left. Trying to stop the clock, the Kings sent Washington to the foul line. The San Miguel big man missed the first free throw, but converted the second to make it a four-point game. The roof finally collapsed on Ginebra when Willie Miller misfired on his three-point try in the Kings’ final play. Cabagnot followed up his heroic act in Game 1 by finishing with 15 points, while veteran center Dorian Peña contributed 13 rebounds for San Miguel, which lost Danny Ildefonso in the third quarter. Already called for a technical foul in the opening half, the former two-time league MVP was slapped with a flagrant foul after hitting Enrico Villanueva on the head. The Beermen shot 13 three-pointers to match the tournament record for the most triples converted in a game. Rudy Hatfield poured in 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Kings, who finally had Eric Menk in action after he was sidelined by a hamstring injury. Menk, who had not played since the quarterfinals, was obviously out of shape and failed to score a single point. Miller and Ronald Tubid each had 16 markers for the Gin Kings. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV