MANILA---B-MEG Derby Ace exploited Marcus Douthit’s injury and snapped the unbeaten run of Smart Gilas Pilipinas with a 98-90 overtime win last night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
MANILA---Gary David exploded for 35 points and new import Martin Zeno completed a decisive three-point play as Powerade hacked out a come-from-behind 99-91 victory over slumping San Miguel Beer last night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
MANILA—Smart Gilas Pilipinas leaned on a strong start that snowballed the rest of the way into a dominating 109-68 victory over San Miguel Beer yesterday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the FilOil Flying V Arena.
MANILA—Air21 and San Miguel has brought in new imports to reinforce their overhauled line up which showed a few kinks that are needed to be ironed as seen in their respective games last week.
MANILA---The PBA Commissioner’s Cup, a conference so swift that squads cannot even afford to blink, gets underway today, marking the league’s return to a three-conference format.
Smart Gilas failed to match an energized and inspired Egyptian squad, losing 75-84 in the finals of the Dubai International men’s basketball tournament Saturday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Its nation turning chaotic after thousands of Egyptians filled the streets of Cairo demanding for the resignation of their president, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s basketball team turned on the heat in the second half of its winner take-all match against the Filipinos.
The Egyptians completed their rally from a 33-44 deficit at the half with a barrage of three-pointers in the fourth quarter. They unloaded five three-pointers in a backbreaking stretch in the final period for a 74-66 lead with three minutes left in the game.
A free throw by Ahmed Tarek gave Egypt its biggest lead at 80-70 with only 1:33 left, and that virtually sealed the outcome.
Smart Gilas controlled the tempo of the match earlier even without import Marcus Douthit, who was thrown out in the first period.
Douthit, who only needs the signature of President Noynoy Aquino to obtain Philippine citizenship, got involved in a fracas with an Egyptian player in the first quarter. Both players were thrown out of the game.
PBA reinforcement Asi Taulava picked up the slack in Douthit’s absence, but the Egyptians grabbed more offensive rebounds and started to hit from long distance.
Smart Gilas’ second-place finish was an improvement from last year’s in this same tournament. The Filipinos placed third last year despite hardly using then import Jamaal Sampson.
The national developmental squad will return to Manila and prepare for the import-flavored PBA second conference, which begins on the third week of February. Smart Gilas will take the spot of Barako Bull, which filed a leave of absence.
MANILA, Philippines—It was a tight game as expected until Talk 'N Text had that extra gear, leaving San Miguel in the dust.
The Tropang Texters broke loose in the opening minutes of the payback period and never looked back as they hacked out a 91-82 triumph over the Beermen in game one of their best-of-seven championship series at the Victorias Sports and Cultural Center in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.
Back-up point guard Jason Castro had his usual scoring spree on the inside en route to 16 points to go along with five assists and two steals.
San Miguel led 68-67 after three nip and tuck quarters but lost its stride to a visibly quicker and in tune Talk 'N Text.
The Beermen also led by as much as nine in the second period but it was immediately wiped out in no time.
Game two will be on Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome.
San Miguel Beer shrugged of a pesky Barangay Ginebra team, 89-86, at the Araneta Coliseum and advanced to the finals to meet the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters for the 2011 PBA Philippine Cup crown.
Alex Cabagnot returned from sick bay, and made a key three pointer with 49 seconds left in the game to help the Beermen's cause.
Erick Menk managed to tie the game once more afterwards when he converted on a post move and got fouled by Danny Ildefonso.
In the next play, Jay Washington made a reverse layup after an Ildefonso air ball to give SMB another two point cushion.
Ginebra sued for time and then went to Menk once again. The play was broken up by Paul Artadi who managed to poke the ball lose off a driving Eric Menk.
Santos got the ball and was fouled thereafter. He managed to split his charities, giving San Miguel an 88-85 lead.
On the next Ginebra offensive, Caguioa was fouled by Artadi at midcourt. Caguioa made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second for a possible Ginebra rebound.
Santos collared the rebound and was fouled once more with less than 4 seconds left. Santos again split his charities but this proved to be enough to send the Beermen to another PBA All-Filipino finals appearance
Santos finished the game with 25 points and 7 rebounds and was chosen as the best player of the game.
Game one of the PBA Philippine Cup finals will be played on January 22, 2011 and will be held at Negros Occidental.
Box Scores:
San Miguel 89 - Santos 25, Hontiveros 17, Washington 12, Cabagnot 11, Seigle 8, Artadi 6, Ildefonso 4, Racela 3, Pena 3, Salvacion 0, Pennisi 0.
Ginebra 86 - Caguioa 21, Tubid 19, Hatfield 12, Menk 11, Cortez 10, Villanueva 7, Intal 2, Wilson 2, Miller 2, Wilson 0, Aquino 0.
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Basketball Association has removed three referees from the 12-man pool assigned to work the Philippine Cup playoffs for various reasons involving different games.
Commissioner Chito Salud issued this clarification on Tuesday to correct a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that the three referees who worked Sunday’s game between Derby Ace and Talk ‘N Text were suspended for calls that affected the outcome of the game.
According to Salud, Referees Dennis Barbacena, Ronald Mauricio and Ariel Bermeo are no longer part of the officiating pool for committing “serious lapses in judgment” in different games they handled during the playoffs.
Only Bermeo worked Game 4.
“Let’s just get the facts straight because it’s grossly unfair to the referees (concerned), the teams and the fans,” Salud said over the phone, stressing that the latest move to take officials out of the pool would not be the last.
The Inquirer report, which quoted a PBA insider, said that Peter Balao, Armando Guevarra and Bermeo were suspended after Salud reviewed the tapes of Game 4.
Salud said that Mauricio, Barbacena and Bermeo “were not found guilty of making game-altering calls, but instead were evaluated for sub-par performance in terms of knowledge of the rules and lack of judicious discretion.”
Ginebra's Christmas fortunes continued this year, and so did the holiday jinx for Alaska.
The Gin Kings rallied from 20 points down in the first half to stun the Aces on Christmas Day, 79-70, and bagged the remaining semifinals berth in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Mark Caguioa finished the comeback started by Ronald Tubid. Then they teamed up to put the finishing touches in the Kings’ dramatic win before an SRO crowd at the Astrodome.
Tubid finished with 16 points, behind Caguioa's team-high 20 points, but it was he who led a big 19-2 run by the Kings in the second quarter.
The league's most popular ball club tied the count at 36 after trailing, 28-8, in the opening period.
The Aces eventually settled for a 41-36 halftime lead.
Caguioa then took over in the second half, where he scored 16 of his total output and took charge in a decisive 15-2 assault that gave Ginebra full control of the match, 75-61 in the final seven minutes.
The Kings also drew a big game from Enrico Villanueva on both ends of the floor with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Rudy Hatfield grabbed 17 rebounds and had 10 points.
"Nakahinga ng konti (Finally, a breather)," said an obviously relieved Ginebra coach Jong Uichico following the win that stretched the Kings' all-time Christmas Day record to 6-1.
"Alaska is so hard to play in the playoffs. Yes, we were lucky tonight. There's always a certain amount of luck involved, but there’s also a certain amount of hard work involved, too."
The Kings won two straight over the Aces to claim their best-of-three quarterfinals series, 2-1.
The loss also marked the second time Alaska went down in a game of great significance right on Christmas Day. Eight years ago, the franchise also lost to Coca-Cola in the decisive Game 7 of the All-Filipino championship.
Ginebra now moves on to the semifinals against No. 2 seed San Miguel, a team that Uichico admitted is giving his team fits as far as size is concerned.
"Their (Beermen's) size hurts us," Uichico said. "I hope it goes the distance, and then we'll have a 50-50 shot. After today, I can look at SMB and see whether we have an advantage in some points."
Their best-of-seven semis series starts on January 5 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Joe Devance led Alaska with 21 points – 13 coming in the first quarter, including a three-point shot that gave the Aces a 20-point spread. He even outscored the entire Ginebra team in that stretch, 13-8.
L.A. Tenorio added 18 points and Sonny Thoss had 13 rebounds and nine points
But a big disappointment for the Aces was Cyrus Baguio, who scored only seven points on a paltry 3-of-16 shooting from the field against his former team.
Unlike most gifts, whoever wants this one will have to work very hard for it.
Alaska and Barangay Ginebra slug it out in a KO game at the Cuneta Astrodome today with the winner getting a most welcome Christmas Day present—advancing to the Final Four of the season-opening PBA Philippine Cup.
Gametime is 5 p.m. with the winner marching on to play rock-solid San Miguel in a best-of-five semifinal series.
“At least we now have a Saturday (today) game. We now have a 50/50 chance of winning it,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told reporters Wednesday nightafter surviving their first knockout game with the on-and-off Aces.
A 94-76 Game 2 victory pounded out with a small lineup for most of the game has suddenly swung the pendulum in favor of the Gin Kings, who could still be without Eric Menk and will be relying heavily on their overloaded guard rotation.
Two-time MVP Willie Miller, Ronald Tubid, Mark Caguioa and Mike Cortez took turns in hurting the Aces Wednesday night, while Rudy Hatfield personified Ginebra’s grim determination to bang it up underneath with 16 points and 14 boards.
In fact, Hatfield missed a triple-double by just three feeds as he energized Ginebra no end with great hustle plays on both ends of the floor.
Miller also woke up from a Game 1 slumber and hit two triples at the height of Ginebra’s third-quarter breakaway. He finished with 16 points and was great in quarterbacking the offense in the absence of Jay-Jay Helterbrand.
Alaska was held to just 27 second-half points, 13 in the final period as the Aces slipped back into the woeful form that characterized a bleak part of their elimination round campaign that saw them lose four straight games at one point.
