Panthers claim third semis slot

Pop Cola just couldn’t deny it owed Alaska Milk so much as it finally gained its first PBA semifinals stint in a long, long while last night.

The Panthers made it to the PBA All-Filipino Cup Final Four at the expense of the Aces — thanks largely to the exploits of no less than four players who used to be part of the Aces.

Johnny Abarrientos called it payback time as he won his "personal war" with Alaska coach Tim Cone when Pop Cola beat his former team, 74-65, in their sudden-death duel watched by a mammoth Sunday crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

Delivering the knockout punch on the reigning champions, the Panthers get a shot at the finals versus the winner of the San Miguel-Red Bull tiff which was still being played at presstime. It will be Pop Cola’s first stint in the semis since winning the third-place trophy in the 1998 Centennial Cup.

"In practice yesterday, we forgot the stats, the record and everything. We just talked about thrust and the team’s collective responsibility and I believed it worked," said coach Chot Reyes as he steered his Pop Cola squad past Alaska, also his former team.

Cone, meanwhile, thought Pop Cola and Alaska fought a great battle, with the Panthers emerging the winner as they never backed down in the fight until the end.

He said he felt bad they lost but felt good they lost to Pop Cola and not to another team. He added he will cheer for Pop Cola from hereon because of good friend Chot Reyes and former players Johnny Abarrientos, Poch Juinio and Jojo Lastimosa.

Abarrientos said he still has friends at Alaska but he loved to believe he drove a point in leading the Panthers past the Aces. "Siguro napatunayan ko sa mga nakakaintindi na hindi pa naman ako laos," he said.

But last night, the one-time MVP indeed proved that he’s far from over-the-hill, dishing out a solid game to keep the Panthers intact throughout.

Cone had good words for Abarrientos. He said: "Johnny was awesome. He played like the vintage Johnny. As I always say about Johnny, he wins games not by scoring much but by doing other things."

But of course, there were other Panthers who stepped up their games in the do-or-die contest. There was Rudy Hatfield who hustled all night and came up with crucial numbers. Nelson Asaytono and Chris Bolado delivered big coming off the bench and Estong Ballesteros got away with a key basket at crunchtime.

"It was about thrust and collective responsibility. We thrust our game plan; thrusted that when we talked to Nelson Asaytono, we’re after his welfare; thrusted that Estong Ballesteros will deliver at crunchtime," said Reyes.