Showing steely nerves, Peter June Simon hit three pressure-packed free throws, then came up with a crucial steal with only 7.5 ticks remaining to derail the Paint Masters’ finals bid, and at the same time, enhance their own chances for a third straight finals appearance.
Allan Salangsang topscored for the Liquid Power with 20 points but the game belonged to Simon who bailed the team out of trouble. He finished with 18 points, seven of them in the final canto.
A difficult basket by PBA No. 1 pick Rich Alvarez and a split from the stripe by Salangsang gave the Liquid Power a 67-62 lead with barely 77 seconds remaining. But James Yap, the No. 2 choice in last Friday’s PBA Draft Pick, answered swiftly with a triple and the Paint Masters moved within 66-67 on a split by Willy Wilson.
But Simon rose to the occasion to deliver the telling blows as the Liquid Power completed a three-game sweep of the semis’ initial round.
"It was the heart of the boys that carried us to victory. If we can play like this again, malaki ang pag-asa naming manalo," said coach Junel Baculi.
Despite the setback, the Paint Masters still remain on top with an 11-4 record while the Liquid Power improved to 10-5.
Earlier, Blustar Detergent found unlikely heroes in Ismael Junio and Marc Victoria yesterday as the Detergent Kings outsteadied Sunkist-UST, 65-60, to keep their finals bid alive.
The unheralded Juinio stepped up when needed most, knocking in a huge three-point shot while the 6-foot-4 Victoria came through with a tough shot underneath in leading the Detergent Kings to their first win over the Tigers in three games.
With the win, the Detergent Kings improved to 8-7, the same win-loss record of their victim.
"I’m glad we’re still in contention, we just played pressure-free," said coach Leo Isaac as his Detergent Kings boosted their chances of forging a playoff for the second finals berth under the 4-of-6 incentive rule.
But they have to win their three remaining games and hope that Fash and Welcoat fumble along the way.
Though the Detergent Kings missed top gunner Jenkins Mesina for the third straight game due to a bout with flu, Blustar dictated the tempo of the game right from the start behind the guns of pro-bound Erick dela Cuesta and former pro Allan Gamboa.
The Detergent Kings even took an 11-point lead, 52-41, in the third but the Tigers refused to give up easily as they knotted the count at 58 on two free throws by Alex Compton with 3:12 remaining.
But Junio defused the tension building up on the Blustar bench with a booming trey followed by another big basket from Victoria for a 63-58 lead, 1:31 remaining.
After Compton missed a driving lay-up, Gamboa, who finished with 14 points, sealed the win with a short jumper.
Compton paced the Tigers with 15 points but was held to just three free throws in the final quarter. Jemal Vizcarra, the team’s rising star, was also limited to just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting. Compton only converted two of seven tries from the three-point zone.
Unlike in their defeat to Fash last Thursday where they were held to just five assists, the Detergent Kings issued 18 this time, seven of them from Dela
Cuesta.
Junio and Victoria combined for 11 points.