BEERACLE! SAN MIGUEL WINS 22ND PBA CROWN FROM 0-3 DEFICIT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 04 Feb 2016
History unfolded last night at the Game 7 of the Finals of the 2016 PBA Philippine Cup. Fans called it "Beeracle" as the San Miguel Beermen won their 22nd PBA title and became the first team to come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series thumping the Alaska Aces with a 96-89 victory at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Many fans considered the Beermen to be out of title contention after they lost their first three games. No team ever had recovered from that situation to win the crown. They resurrected in Game Four forcing a 110-104 overtime win, then an 86-73 victory also in overtime in Game Five and a 100-89 triumph in Game Six.
The knee injury of PBA two-time MVP June Mar Fajardo caused him to miss the first four games of the Finals and this time he was the champions' top scorer and rebounder with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Chris Ross was adjudged the Finals MVP and he came up with a valiant stand pouring 21 points with four three-pointers, five rebounds and five assists. Marcio Lassiter contributed 15 points while Arwind Santos had 13 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Alaska rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring San Miguel 38-28, but their efforts fell short and were unable to turn the tide. The Aces failed to defeat the Beermen in the last three conference championship series.
San Miguel led at halftime, 43-38, as Alaska struggled with a poor 31% shooting in the first half compared to the Beermen's 41%. Ross connected 3-of-4 from the three-point area with a total of 11 points and Fajardo who entered at 4:30 of the game scored six markers and pulled eight rebounds as the Beermen were in the lead almost all throughout the first half.
Chris Banchero topped the Aces with 21 points while Calvin Abueva had 16 points and nine rebounds. Vic Manuel, who had been delivering stats in Alaska's games in the championship had just three points because of a sprained ankle.
Alaska coach Alex Compton had a strange strategy at the start the game as he consumed all three of his mandatory timeouts in the first half with just one second into the game. He then made a four-player substitution from his starting lineup.
Dondon Hontiveros shot three-pointers and kept the Aces in the game with San Miguel?s lead trimmed down to just six, 22-16, at the end of the first period.
Fajardo went to work getting some scoring done in the second quarter as the Beermen maintained their lead early in the period. Alaska twice made runs to trim the difference down to four points but some big shots by Ross from long distance pushed San Miguel?s lead back up to 10 points, 38-28.
Alaska, known for overhauling huge leads, made one final surge as they rallied to a 17-7 run led by Abueva at the start of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 77-72 with 6:51 left. But Santos went to the rescue sinking a booming triple as Ross scored back-to-back baskets to put the Beermen safely at an 84-72 lead with 4:48 left. Ross iced the Beermen's historic title run with a three-pointer with 3:03 remaining time to place San Miguel safely on the driver's seat, 87-75.
?In all of my championships, this is the sweetest because this is the PBA and we?re the talk of the nation because it?s history,? San Miguel head coach Leo Austria was quoted by interaksyon.com. ?This is the pinnacle of my career.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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