Chito Victolero once again sparked the Knights to the come-from-behind victory with his superb orchestration of plays that broke the backs of the Slashers down the stretch and cut short the best-of-five series, 3-1.
The Knights trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, but patiently worked their way up in the third quarter behind the efforts of Gilbert Castillo and Chris Calaguio, 75-73.
Then Victolero took over.
Duplicating his heroics in Games 2 and 3, which San Juan also won, Victolero pumped in eight points and, more importantly, served as the take-charge guy for the national titlist Knights.
The Slashers were still ahead, 80-77, when a steal by Victolero netted a Blitz Three and an accompanying freethrow by Rafi Reavis. That paved the way for a 12-point run by San Juan, capped by a reverse dunk by Bruce Dacia, and an 89-80 count with time down to 6 minutes and 54 seconds to go.
Though Dacia sprained his left ankle and was taken out of the game, the Knights held their ground as Victolero continued finding the open man.
The ending was frustrating for the Slashers who were in command in the first half, 57-44, as Jomar Tierra and Johnedel Cardel struck from the outside and Ruben dela Rosa came through with two Blitz Threes.
Only Calaguio could hit for San Juan in that span, scoring 21 points, as Negros posted held on to a 57-51 lead.
Calaguio was named Reebok best player of the game with his 33-point, 9-rebound, 1-steal, 1 assist effort, while Victolero put up with a virtuoso-like 11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steal effort.
Sharing best honors in Game 2 and 3, Victolero was fittingly named Best Player of the Finals, which was a virtual repeat of last year’s national finals also won by the Slashers (4-2) at the expense of the Slashers.
San Juan coach Philip Cezar praised his wards for their determination, saying that it would have been doubly difficult for them if the series were to return to Bacolod City. Cezar also credited their defense in the second half, where the Knights played more aggresively.