SMB opens its new era with a buzzer beating win

SMB opens its new era with a buzzer beating win

by rick olivares

March 4, 2011

Araneta Coliseum

The buzzer sounded. The San Miguel Beermen eked out a 90-89 win over luckless Meralco which fell to its third successive defeat in the Season 36 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. Danny Ildefonso, who sat at the far end of the Beermen’s bench got up and clapped his hands and managed a painful smile.

The new era of San Miguel basketball, dubbed so because of the acquisition of the year’s top three picks in Nonoy Baclao, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and Rey Guevarra for longtime Beermen Danny Seigle, Dorian Peña, and Dondon Hontiveros as well as third guard Paul Artadi, had begun.

“I’ll take it whether it be a one point or 20-point win,” said point guard Alex Cabagnot outside the team dugout. “It’s obviously a new start.”

Ildefonso knows about new starts. As a prodigious rookie in 1998, he just a new cast of Beermen that had yet to find it’s groove. But they won in his first match against Pop Cola.

Right before the game against Meralco started, he gathered his team at the free throw line front the team bench. Ildefonso, who hails from Pangasinan, spoke in the vernacular despite the presence of import Ira Brown who didn’t understand a word. He told them in simple terms to lay it all out on the court. To be aggressive and that whether they won the game or lost, the important thing was to play to the final second.

In their opening day loss to Air21, the team played listlessly. Whether because of trade rumors or not, team management was not pleased. It better not happen again, they said.

With 24 seconds left in the game, the Meralco Bolts held a slim 89-88 lead. Sol Mercado just jacked up a long trey that missed horribly and the Beermen suddenly had a lifeline.

San Miguel made three passes – Cabagnot to Joseph Yeo to Jay Washington to Arwind Santos. But Santos lost the ball to a tight guarding Mercado who flipped it over to Reynel Hugnatan. Only the Bolts’ new power forward -- late of the Alaska Aces -- lost the leather.

And the Beermen had a second lifeline. Washington shot the ball, missed, tried to tip it in twice but failed. Santos has his put back attempt before import Ira Brown got it right with .2 of a second left.

The Bolts were stunned. What was nearly their first win of the conference was now their third straight defeat. And in the first two losses of the conference, the Bolts missed 14 free throws that could have changed the outcome of the match. Against San Miguel, Meralco shot 12-25 (48%) from the stripe including a huge miss from Taulava at the 2:43 mark of the 4th Quarter for an 89-84 lead. The Bolts never scored again.

Meralco knew they had a chance of beating San Miguel which was still reeling for the trade of the core of the title squads of the late 90s and the early years of the new millennium. There were sure to be chemistry problems, opined Meralco assistant Ronnie Magsanoc who not only rued the missed opportunity but couldn’t help but think that his team was in the same boat since they had newcomers like Mercado, Hugnatan and import Tony Dandridge.

The Bolts battled San Miguel through 18 deadlocks and 15 lead changes and with less than two minutes left, they were in a position to further knock down the Beermen. Except they were the ones who folded.

Mercado and Hugnatan had nearly identical stat lines. Both scored 11 points apiece but the former shot 5-13 from the field while the latter was 5-12 although he did grab a game best 11 boards. Mercado's triple attempt from some 28 feet out was huge and he did not find Mac Cardona who was open at the right side of the rainbow arc. Cardona at that point was 3-5 from three-point territory and 8-14 overall in field goal attempts.

San Miguel’s new additions had a near forgettable day. Baclao played five minutes. Missed his one attempt as he committed one turnover with two fouls to go. Guevarra never even got off the bench. Al-Hussaini on the other hand, had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.

Al-Hussaini, who played 32 minutes in his San Miguel debut while wearing Nelson Asaytono’s old #11, was gracious with his post-game comments. “I am happy to be with San Miguel,” said rookie slotman with a feathery outside touch. “Mas masaya kasi kami ulit ni Noy at Rey magkasama. Alam naman namin na mangangapa kami. Ganyan talaga. There’s less pressure on me over here because nandito si Jay, Arwind, at Alex. Proven scorers yan. That should make it easier for me to contribute.”

Said Cabagnot of his new teammate, “I would always tell him to continue to be aggressive even after he would miss a shot. We all know what he can do and it’s not a bad debut for him. Now if only we can jell in time.”

Unfortunately, it might take a little time since the Beermen will be replacing Brown with David Young who most recently suited up for the Jilin Northeast Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association. Young, who played for Xavier and North Carolina Central, was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in 2004 although he never played for them in the NBA. He averaged 22.2 points in 13 matches for Jilin while adding 4.9 boards, and 1.6 assists. Aside from China, Young, who arrived in Manila last Thursday evening, also played in Greece, Italy, Hungary, Japan, and France. “We need an import who can create from the two and three position,” said SMB head coach Ato Agustin.

Brown, who played for the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the US NCAA, averaged 24.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 blocks in two matches for San Miguel thus far.

“We need to jell,” reiterated Jay Washington to finished with 17 points but shot an atrocious 7-21 from the field.

As the victorious Beermen filed out of their dugout one after another, Ildefonso was conspicuously the last man left inside. “Hindi naman ako yung talagang type na maging captain,” he confided. “Si Olsen (Racela) talaga yung marunong diyan kasi siya yung marunong kumausap at mag-motivate sa mga Fil-Am at sa mga import. Pero kailangan maging positive influence ako. Lalo na I hope to play for two or three more years at tapusin yung career ko sa San Miguel.”

The SMB captain, who played only six minutes and scored two points, fell silent as he looked at a framed picture of the team (that recently competed for the Philippine Cup title that they lost to Talk ‘N Text) atop his gym bag. He saw his former comrades in arms – Seigle, Peña, and Hontiveros – smiling. Good times. Bad times. This was exactly the way he started his career in the PBA and San Miguel. He silently packed away his gear.


San Miguel 90 - Brown 18, Washington 17, Yeo 13, Cabagnot 12, Al-Hussaini 10, Santos 10, Miranda 5, Salvacion 3, Ildefonso 2, Baclao 0, Hubalde 0


Meralco 89 - Danridge 23, Cardona 19, Taulava 13, Espinas 12, Mercado 11, Hugnatan 11, Weinstein 0, Ross 0, Aljamal 0, Aquino 0