'Do it for my Dad'

Alaska is a win away from capturing its 13th PBA title and sealing an appointment with destiny. The Aces can wrap it up with a victory over San Miguel Beer in Game 5 of their best-of-seven duel for the Fiesta Conference crown at the Big Dome tonight.

Riding on momentum and a commanding 3-1 series advantage, Alaska has to make San Miguel doubt its ability to win three in a row over coach Tim Cone’s charges. If the Beermen look beyond Game 5 and lose focus, the confetti will fall from the Araneta rafters before the night is over. Mental toughness is what coach Siot Tanquincen expects from his troops in trying to stay alive.

If the Aces break San Miguel’s will early, the Fat Lady could be singing way before the final buzzer sounds. The danger is Alaska could get complacent like in Game 3 where the Beermen capitalized on the Aces’ lackadaisical attitude to pull off a 96-80 blowout. Any time Alaska relaxes its defense and leaves the door open for San Miguel, Tanquingcen will walk right in to seize the moment.

Last Friday, both teams battled through nine deadlocks and seven lead changes, indicating not only how close Game 4 was but also how fiercely it was fought. The first tie was at 28-all in the second period on Reynel Hugnatan’s basket and there were four more before the halftime score settled at 42-all. When Diamon Simpson got his fourth foul on a charge, Cone barged into the middle of the court to confront the referees. He picked up a technical and Danny Ildefonso canned the free throw to force another tie, 51-all.

 Cone probably went into a rage to fire up his boys and stymie a momentum shift. At that stage, Ildefonso had triggered a San Miguel rally with eight straight points after Alaska had detonated a 7-0 bomb to open the second half.

Whether or not Cone deliberately worked the referees to goad a technical, it worked. San Miguel’s last taste of the driver’s seat was at 67-66 on Gabe Freeman’s field goal early in the payoff period. Alaska held on to win despite missing seven charities in the last two minutes as San Miguel crumpled under pressure.

San Miguel succeeded in limiting Simpson to only 14 points by an unforgiving double team but Alaska was ready for it, rotating the ball efficiently to find other options to carry the load. Simpson was bothered by the attention and it showed in his 4-of-10 performance from the line. Still, Alaska hung tough even as Simpson struggled, displaying remarkable resiliency and the heart of a champion.

The Beermen played atrocious defense, allowing Alaska to shoot a lofty .484 from the field and giving up 41 free throws. Worse, Jay Washington went to sleep with only five points and Dondon Hontiveros couldn’t buy another point after hitting the game’s first shot. Alaska killed San Miguel’s hopes by dominating the matchups, particularly in the backcourt. Joe DeVance’s ability to play the three spot was a huge headache for Tanquingcen because he drew Freeman outside – away from the boards - and forced him to play defense.

Alaska team owner Fred Uytengsu said he’s not thinking destiny although it’s tempting to believe that Alaska is fated to win in its 25th finals appearance on the eve of the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

“All I ask from the team is to win it for my Dad,” he said the other day. Uytengsu’s father Wilfred Sr. passed away this year and was a symbol of inspiration for the Alaska organization for decades. 

When the Aces take to the floor for Game 5 tonight, check out the upper portion of their jerseys – there’s a patch up there with the initials WU. It could be the motivation to bring Alaska back to the top after a three-year wait and two bridesmaid finishes in the last three conferences.