San Miguel wins Game 6, lives for another day

Game Wednesday (Araneta Coliseum)
7 p.m. — San Miguel vs Alaska

Defending champion San Miguel Beer survived a late charge by Alaska to escape with a 96-94 win Sunday night and extend the PBA Fiesta Cup Finals to a Game 6 at the Araneta Coliseum.




Assistant coach Gee Abanilla called the shots for the Beermen who responded by making the key plays in the final stretch of the game.

San Miguel Beer’s back-to-back Best Import winner Gabe Freeman finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Jay Washington, the Best Player of the Conference, contributed 19 points with eight boards, and Arwind Santos had 13 and eight rebounds.

Alaska still leads the seven-game series, 3-2, and can still end it on Wednesday at the Big Dome.

“I really like the intensity that we showed. We came out and outhustled (Alaska),” said Abanilla who was called to take the place of head coach Siot Tanquingcen after the Beermen lost Game 4, 90-83, last Friday.


“Somehow we dictated the tempo. Alaska was successful in dictating the tempo. We want the game fast-paced, we’re comfortable by doing that,” added Abanilla.

Abanilla used to substitute for Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao, but coached for the first time in a championship series.

Denok Miranda also played solid for SMB with 12 points and five assists and defended against LA Tenorio. Dondon Hontiveros had 11 markers.

Freeman gave San Miguel a 10-point lead, 89-79, with 8:04 left in the game, but Alaska came charging back behind Joe Devance, LA Tenorio, Cyrus Baguio and import Diamon Simpson.

A 15-6 run highlighted by Tenorio and Baguio’s three-pointer trimmed San Miguel’s lead to 94-96, 1:20 left in the game.

The Aces still had a chance to turn the game around after Santos missed a three-pointer. Simpson grabbed the rebound and fed a streaking Baguio who called for time with 2.2 seconds left.

Baguio got the inbound pass from Tony dela Cruz, but his three-point attempt hit the front end of the rim as Washington pulled down the rebound.

“We just didn’t play enough to win it,” Cone said, who is eyeing the franchise’s 13th championship. We gave it a good shot, but it came up short (Baguio’s shot). They pretty much outplayed us.”

“We didn’t bring our A-plus game to beat San Miguel. We have to bring it in Game 6 (on Wednesday). “Our guys didn’t quit and that’s good. That adds to our character, we won't easily give up the series,” added Cone.

Simpson led the Aces with 29 points and 18 rebounds, while Devance had 15 and nine boards. Baguio finished with 14 and Tenorio added 10.

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The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 96 — Washington 19, Freeman 18, Santos 13, Miranda 12, Hontiveros 11, Ildefonso 10, Pennisi 9, Cabagnot 2, Yeo 2, Villanueva 0, Peña 0.
ALASKA 94 — Simpson 29, Devance 15, Baguio 14, Tenorio 10, Hugnatan 10, Borboran 7, Dela Cruz 6, Fonacier 0, Thoss 0, Cariaso 0.
Quarters: 26-21, 50-39, 75-69, 96-94.