SMB makes it a series

Arwind Santos harassed Jared Dillinger (into 2-5 shooting) and the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters into a horrible shooting night to cut their foe's series lead 2-1.

SMB makes it a series

by rick olivares with pic by tunying p.

January 28, 2011

Araneta Coliseum

Looks like the rah rah farewell speech by Olsen Racela worked.

It was an emotional goodbye by the longtime San Miguel Beer team captain and point guard who is hanging up his sneakers after the Philippine Cup Finals after 18 years in the PBA.

Racela admitted to keeping his emotions in check but showed enough to fire up his battered squad who were down 2-0 to Talk ‘N Text before tip off. “I hope to win one more title before I hang it up,” said Racela who will be coaching the Philippine Under-16 National Team after the conference. Racela, the longest tenured Beerman is also looking to help his squad win its first All-Filipino title since 2001.

After 48 minutes of play, the Beermen razed the lead 2-1 with a ruthless and dominating 103-82 win where they never allowed the Tropang Texters to get in the game except for that brief second quarter run that was anchored by Jason Castro and Larry Fonacier.

But San Miguel finished the quarter – every quarter in fact – with a mighty kick 25-17, 47-36, 74-56, and the final result of 103-82.

Arwind Santos broke out of his slump by scoring 20 to pace five Beermen in double figures. He as well as other teammates later admitted to being fired up by Racela’s speech.

The Tropang Texters played without Ryan Reyes who was in the United States to attend the funeral of his younger brother Allan who was killed in a vehicular accident a few days ago. Reyes, a starting guard for the TNT team has played excellent defense to go with his usual offensive brilliance.

Right from tip off with backup guard Paul Artadi showing the way, the Beermen attacking the basket on every opportunity. A 10-0 run including a couple of treys by Santos put San Miguel in front 21-13.

Castro’s and Fonacier’s second quarter explosion saw them give the Tropang Texters a brief 33-30 lead but the Beermen answered with an 11-0 bomb to seize control of the match for good.

“We saw the real San Miguel team today. We got our butts kicked. That’s what happens when you're not ready,” said a disappointed TNT head coach Chot Reyes.

Talk ‘N Text converted 27 of 72 field goal attempts for a poor 37.5% shooting clip and were thoroughly dominated on the rebounding department 57-41 and in assists 25-16.

SMB 103 - Santos 20, Salvacion 13, Cabagnot 12, Ildefonso 12, Washington 10, Yeo 9, Hontiveros 9, Artadi 8, Racela 4, Miranda 2, Seigle 2, Pena 2, Pennisi 0

TNT 82 - Castro 13, Alapag 13, Fonacier 11, De Ocampo 9, Dillinger 8, Aban 8, Carey 8, Oreta 4, Alvarez 3, Peek 3, Williams 2, Yee 0, Lao 0