San Miguel Beer squandered a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and had to gut it out in double overtime to overcome Air21, 130-129, in a controversial contest in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Air21 management said they will put the game under protest, claiming they should have won the contest right in the first overtime on a three-pointer by Ranidel de Ocampo which was counted as a two-point basket.
“We won it. Even the supervisor of officials (Ramil Cruz) saw it as a three-point shot,” said Air21 governor and team manager Lito Alvarez.
The slow-mo replay showed De Ocampo scoring from beyond the arc. It should have been a triple making it 123-122 for the Express.
Cruz admitted the lapse on the part of the referees but said rule procedures in the last two minutes of the contest didn’t allow them to correct the mistake. He said Air21 should have challenged the call for them to stop the game and review the video tape of the contested shot.
Air21 coach Bo Perasol insisted they argued their case with referee Mario Montiel.
Lordy Tugade and Dorian Peña came through with clutch baskets in second overtime, and the Beermen outlasted the Express, thus, regaining the solo lead with a 6-2 win-loss card.
The Express saw their spirited comeback from a 74-93 deficit go down the drain as they suffered a fifth loss against three wins.
“It was not clear to me. If it’s supposed to be a trey, then we’re blessed. We enjoyed a big break,” said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen.
“I have mixed emotions. It’s good that we won, and kudos goes to the players for hanging in there. But we have to learn from our mistakes. We can’t take things for granted specially against Air21,” Tanquingcen added.
Gary David put in a personal season-high 36 points, including 19 in a fiery attack that had the Express surging ahead in the fourth quarter. He made 30 in the second half – the most by any local player since Asi Taulava had 33 in the Fiesta Conference in 2004.
Rain or Shine strung up six triples in the fourth quarter and totaled a franchise-best 16 as the Elasto Painters scored a come-from-behind 106-102 win over the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the nightcap.
The Elasto Painters jacked up their record to 5-3, assuring the franchise of its best showing in a tournament. The Asian Coating franchise had never won more than four games in a tourney since joining the league in 2006.