Peña made his presence felt with the game on the line, snaring rebounds, diving for looseball and hitting clutch points at endgame to lead the Beermen to their first win in four starts this season.
The Beermen actually started strong and led by as many as 18 points, but they slowed down in the face of a searing FedEx rally in the third quarter and needed the heroics of Peña to finally barge into the win-column in the tournament.
Peña scored eight of his nine points in the last six minutes of play, including a slam off a steal by Boybits Victoria on Dindo Pumaren, giving San Miguel a 76-73 cushion with time down to 41 seconds.
The burly former Pasig Pirate in the MBA himself sealed the victory when he beat Bong Alvarez in a mad scramble for the looseball following a missed three-pointer by Jarmaine Walker in the ensuing play.
"Dorian Peña has been working hard since the off-season. He’s making schedule of his own to get in real good condition. His hard work is now paying off," said acting San Miguel coach Siot Tanquincen of the Fil-Am forward/slotman, who aside from scoring nine points, also logged a game-high 14 rebounds plus one steal.
Peña’s endgame heroics save San Miguel from absorbing its sixth straight defeat dating back to last season and averted FedEx’s bid for a third successive victory.
The Express fell behind by 19 at 36-54 but still pushed the Beermen to the limit in the fourth quarter following a sudden explosion by Jarmaine Walker and Bong Alvarez in the third period.
Walker and Alvarez combined in a 20-0 assault to put FedEx ahead at 56-54 with four minutes to go in the third canto.
San Miguel regained the upperhand at 72-67 midway through the fourth quarter but FedEx surged upfront anew at 70-72 following back-to-back three-pointers by Pumaren and Alvarez.
But Peña said enough is enough, taking the cudgels for San Miguel in the closing seconds . He fired four points and took the key looseball recovery to win it for the Beermen.
Mario Bennett, as in his first game in the league, got off to a blazing start only to taper off in the final half, winding up with 25 points and 14 rebounds. He had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.
Lamount Strothers struggled against Walker and finished with only 13 points and five rebounds.
But worse was Walker’s FedEx import partner Tim Moore, who bled for only a single field goal basket. He averaged 22 points in his first three game in the league.
Meanwhile, Philippine national pool, perhaps, can now concentrate on its buildup for the coming Asian Games in Busan, South Korea with three national hopefuls completing the necessary papers for a stint in the ongoing Samsung PBA Governors Cup.
Jimmy Alapag was finally cleared by the Department of Justice yesterday while brothers Andy and Danny Seigle eventually signed their respective contract-extensions with Purefoods and San Miguel the other day.
At presstime, the PBA Commissioner’s Office had yet to receive the DOJ confirmation of Alapag’s Filipino citizenship. But PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino declared the Fil-Am pointguard i now eligible to join Selecta RP as the DOJ has informed him the player has been cleared.
Alapag, who has impressed not a few in his participation in the RP pool’s daily practice session at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center inside Ateneo, makes his first public appearance Friday as Selecta RP plays Purefoods in a road game in Balanga, Bataan.
Meanwhile, the Seigle’s finally re-signed with their respective teams, both inking a three-year contract worth P18 million each Monday.
The question is how both players managed to secure Games and Amusement Board playing license even before they renewed their contracts with Purefoods and San Miguel. Andy has played one game while Danny two games with Selecta RP. Both are back in the injured list.
Under their new contracts with Purefoods and San Miguel, Andy and Danny Seigle will continue to receive the maximum monthly pay of P500,000 until year 2004.