Beermen on a hot streak

Make no mistake about it, San Miguel Beer is on a roll in the AirAsia Asean Basketball League (ABL) with eight straight wins, including a 111-104 overtime decision over the Malaysia Westports Dragons to open their best-of-three semifinal series at the Olivarez Gym in Parañaque last Saturday.

The Beermen haven’t lost since dropping a 66-63 verdict to the Saigon Heat last March 24 and coach Bobby Parks’ imports were still Dalron Johnson and Jarrid Famous. San Miguel opened the ABL season with Johnson and Richard Jeter. Later, Jeter was replaced by Doug Thomson who in turn was subbed by Famous. Eventually, Parks brought in Duke Crews and Nick Fazekas who both played in the recent PBA Commissioner’s Cup. He also signed up Fil-Am guard Chris Banchero. Since the formation of San Miguel’s version of the Big Three, the team has been untouchable.

Banchero has averaged 14 points, 6.5 assists and 3.2 steals since hooking up with San Miguel in the Beermen’s 93-78 win over the AirAsia Philippine Patriots last April 14. In Game 1 of the Dragons series, he compiled 18 points, 15 assists and six steals.in 36:30. His field goal marksmanship was a sizzling 9-of-12, overshadowing his 0-of-2 showing at the foul line.

In all, San Miguel has won 13 of its last 14 games. Its only losses were to the Dragons twice, 83-77 and 73-70, the Jobstreet.com Singapore Slingers, 71-63 and Saigon. At the end of the regular season, the Beermen were No. 1 in the standings with a 17-4 mark. Next were the Patriots at 16-5, then the Indonesia Warriors 12-9 and the Dragons 11-10. Struck out of the playoffs were the Slingers at 9-12, Saigon at 8-13, Bangkok at 6-15 and the Chang Thailand Slammers at 5-16.

The Beermen left Manila for Kuala Lumpur yesterday and will face the Dragons in Game 2 of their series tomorrow. Another San Miguel win will propel the Beermen to the best-of-three finals in only their rookie season in the league. Former Smart Gilas mentor Rajko Toroman, the Serbian who piloted Iran to the 2007 FIBA-Asia title and took the squad to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will sit on the San Miguel bench alongside Parks. San Miguel Corp. director of sports Noli Eala will arrive in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow morning.

Eala said San Miguel Corp. president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang is giving the team his all-out support. “We wouldn’t be in this position, a win away from the finals, without Mr. Ang’s support,” said Eala. “Before Game 1, he gave instructions to quarter the team at the Diamond Hotel to make sure the players and coaching staff got an early night’s rest. Mr. Ang has also instructed the team to fly to K. L. on Philippine Airlines. No more layovers. To avoid straining the players, we’re taking only direct flights from now on.”

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Eala called the Crews-Fazekas combination the “Fire” and “Ice” tandem, taking off from the Rodney Monroe-Chris Corchiani tag during their North Carolina State heyday. San Miguel hasn’t lost a game since they all got together. “Crews is Fire and Fazekas is Ice,” said Eala. “They were unstoppable in Game 1 against the Dragons with Fazekas scoring 32 and Crews 25. It’s the perfect combination for us.”

Eala said Banchero, a Seattle Pacific standout in the NCAA Division II, will play in the PBA D-League this October and return to suit up for San Miguel in the next ABL season. He will be a D-League conference short of gaining eligibility for the PBA draft as a Fil-Am in 2013.

The Dragons’ Filipino coach Ariel Vanguardia was recently fined $5,000 by the ABL for remarks critical of league management. If there’s a team capable of upending San Miguel, it’s Malaysia because the Dragons did it twice in the regular season even as the Beermen were with a different set of imports and without Banchero.

Malaysia’s imports are Tiras Wade and Brian Williams, two prolific shotmakers. Williams matched Fazekas’ output in Game 1. The Dragons’ Asean imports are Fil-Am Nic Belasco, Patrick Cabahug and Chris Pacana. They’re out to defend their homecourt in Game 2 tomorrow night and force a winner-take-all rubber match.

Aside from the Big Three, San Miguel’s other weapons are Leo Avenido, June Mar Fajardo, Roger Yap, Norman Gonzales, Christian Luanzon, Benedict Fernandez, Aries Dimaunahan, John Ferriols, Jun-Jun Cabatu and Froilan Baguion.

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In the other semifinal series, Indonesia got the jump on the Patriots, 73-64, at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last weekend. On Sunday, the Warriors try to close it out in Game 2 in Jakarta so for the Patriots to force a Game 3 in Manila on June 10, they’ve got to win on the road first. Indonesia has won its last six games since signing up Fil-Am Stanley Pringle and import Evan Brock in place of Larry Smith. Pringle is averaging 19.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists while Brock is hitting at a 20.7 clip. Former PBA import Steve Thomas anchors the middle for the Warriors, averaging 16.3 points and 14.9 rebounds in 21 games. In their last regular season faceoff, Indonesia crushed the Patriots, 104-79.

Patriots guard Ardy Larong will sit out two games for butting Pringle in Game 1 so he’ll be reactivated only if coach Glenn Capacio’s squad makes it to the finals. The Patriots are a proud team with a championship tradition so don’t count them out yet. Capacio’s locals are experienced and explosive. Al Vergara, Aldrech Ramos, Eder Saldua, Rob Wainwright, Marcy Arellano, Kiko Adriano, Bogs Raymundo, Eddie Laure, Warren Ybanez, Reed Juntilla and Erick Rodriguez are a hard-driving bunch. Imports Anthony Johnson and Nakiea Miller are tough, too.

But for the Patriots to survive, they’ve got to put the clamps on Pringle who’s backstopped by two other Asean imports Jerick Uy Canada and Allan Salangsang. Containing Thomas and Brock is another challenge for Capacio.

It’s coincidental that like in the NBA, there are four survivors left in the ABL playoffs. This weekend, only two could be left standing when the smoke of battle clears but don’t hold your breath for it to happen. Both series will go back to Manila for the clinchers if the Dragons and Patriots pull off upsets.