Game 7: Fitting end to long title quest

MANILA, Philippines - Sudden death. There’s no better way to end the exhilarating duel for the two teams out to end a long quest for an elusive PBA Philippine Cup championship than the do-or-die match tomorrow.

The Alaska Aces have been trying to win the league’s premier crown the last 13 years while the San Miguel Beermen have been chasing the title the last 12 seasons.

But the long, arduous climb to the top finally ends tomorrow when the Aces and the Beermen face off in a deciding rubber match in a fitting ending to a well-fought, stretch-out series marked by hostility and deep animosity even in the presence of the Holy Pope in the country.

It boils down to a do-or-die match – a dream game in any sport that every sports fan would love to see. It’s the first Game Seven in all-Filipino finals in six years and only the third in the last 17 PBA seasons.

San Miguel Beer came to within three quarters of wrapping up the series Sunday night but Alaska turned the tables around in the last 36 minutes of battle, pulling off an 87-76 victory that sent the best-of-seven series to full distance.

The decider is set at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen tried to pour it all in the first half but their ploy backfired as they virtually ran out of gas and unable to respond when the Aces pressed their own bid in the second half.

With fresher legs, the Aces turned the game around in the second quarter and kept control to the finish, thus, spoiling the Beermen’s championship party.

“The big thing for us was the minutes that their (main) guys had to play. When you play against a team that plays the way we do, you would really get tired,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.