04 December 2010

Bolts 94, Beermen 98

Bolts vs Beermen
San Miguel Beer stopped the Meralco blitzkrieg and sustained its own charge to assure itself of a spot in the top two with a good five play dates left in the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round.

The Beermen took the full measure of the B-Boys and clinched a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals with a 98-94 victory Friday night (3 December 2010) at the Cuneta Astrodome.

"We're only so happy we've achieved our goal of making the top two. That's our aim from day one," said San Miguel coach Ato Agustin.

"We would be happy to be at No. 1 or No. 2. But though assured of that, expect us to go all out in our last game in the elims versus Alaska Milk Sunday," Agustin added.

Dondon Hontiveros, Joseph Yeo, Jay Washington, Arwind Santos, Danny Ildefonso and Alex Cabagnot all put in double-digit outputs as the Beermen held off the B-Boys for their 11th win against two losses.

They assure themselves of top seeding if they close out at 12-2. They settle for second seeding should Talk n Text caught up with them at 10-3.

The B-Boys suffered their first loss in their last five games and moved down to joint fourth with the B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados at 6-6.

Both the B-Boys and the Llamados hope to make the top six to avoid a matchup with either the top seed or the second seed in the playoffs. The top two teams carry a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarters.

"Magandang puhunan na siguro ang twice-to-beat incentive sa quarters. We'll surely try to make good use of that," said Agustin.

Left locked in a fierce battle for the second spot are Barangay Ginebra (9-3) and Talk n Text (8-3).

The B-Boys waged a tough challenge but just couldn’t keep up with the Beermen till the end.

Chris Ross proved to be a great energy source, coming through with a solid all-around game with 17 points, nine rebounds and the same number of assists.

Gabby Espinas had 20 points and nine rebounds, Cardona had 17 points, six rebounds and the same number of assists while Yousif Aljamal and Nelbert Omolon chipped in 13 points each.

The Beermen got away with the win on clutch baskets by Alex Cabagnot and Dondon Hontiveros at the finish.

Hontiveros topscored for the Beermen with 18 points and sealed their win with a triple making it 97-90 with time down to 19.7 seconds. (SB)

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