The Beermen bounced back strong from a sorry loss Friday, dominating the Bulls last night for a 106-82 rout that forced a two-game standoff between the two teams in their Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series at the Araneta Coliseum.
But the match was marred by the Red Bull walkout led by coach Yeng Guiao with 2:06 left in the first half.
San Miguel seemingly lost momentum at the resumption of play following the return of Red Bull but the Beermen gathered steam again midway in the third period and completed the big win that reduced the series to a best-of-three affair.
"My concern when they (the Bulls) left the game was my players losing their focus. That did happen and luckily we’re able to recover," said San Miguel coach Jong Uichico.
"People saw the game and they can decide for themselves what happened. I don’t want to blame my team for this loss. This game wasn’t lost by my team," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao, hinting at poor officiating the Bulls had to endure.
"We have to be mentally tougher next game because we expect the same thing to happen," Guiao added.
There’s no word yet from the Commissioner’s Office whether Red Bull would be sanctioned for its action. It would be remembered that Anejo Rhum was slapped a huge fine of P550,000 for abandoning the endgame of Game Six of its 1990 First Conference title playoff versus eventual champion Shell.
For leaving the game for about two minutes late in the first half while trailing 32-41, the Bulls were called two infractions for delaying the game for a pair of charities for the Beermen.
At the resumption of play after the brief break, the Bulls trimmed the gap to 40-45 at halftime and even surged ahead at 48-47 on baskets by Larry Fonacier and Paolo Bugia at the start of the second half.
But the Beermen shook regrouped and regained control, 60-50, before the third quarter ended.
With a well-balanced attack, the Beermen even stepped up their attack in the payoff period.
Danny Seigle made 24 points for his 16th straight game where he scored at least 20 markers. He led six other Beermen who finished in double figures.
"This (the win) is big because it would have been very tough for us to recover had we fell behind 1-3 in this series," said Uichico.
"It’s very important for us to tie the series. Now we have a chance to get ahead in Game Five," Uichico added.
Alaska Milk bounced back from a sorry loss Friday, getting off to a fiery start and dominating Purefoods for a 91-77 rout and a commanding three-game-to-one lead in their own semis duel.
The Aces take the first of three cracks at the title playoff in Game Five Wednesday.
"Didn’t expect this kind of game. I’m expecting a tough battle... a battle for possession after possession. But lo and behold, we got a big lead early," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.