i TV Pinoy

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

-- San Miguel Beer bucked a slow start and needed a strong second period to turn back Rain or Shine, 104-90, Friday night in the KFC-PBA Philippine Basketball Association at the Araneta Coliseum.

Danny Seigle scored a conference-high 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the Beermen to their 11th win against 3 losses. SMB currently occupies second in the league’s standings.

Lordy Tugade added 18 markers while Arwind Santos had 14 points and 10 rebounds for San Miguel, which still trails Alaska (11-1) by two games.

Ryan Arana led the Elasto Painters with 17 points while Gabe Norwood and Jay-R Reyex contributed 16 and 13 markers respectively. Sol Mercado returned to the Rain or Shine lineup and chipped in 12.

The Elasto Painters were actually on a hot start and erected a 34-24 lead in the first period but San Miguel outscored them in the second canto, 29-14, to carry a 54-48 advantage going to the second half.

San Miguel widened the lead to 88-73 with 8:16 left in the fourth but Rain or Shine unloaded an 8-2 exchange to trim the advantage to 81-90, 5:29 remaining.

The Beermen, however, were simply too much for the young Elasto Painters as they sealed the victory with a 10-1 burst capped by Dondon Hontiveros’ one-hand slam for their biggest lead at 100-84, less than three minutes in the contest.

Rain or Shine absorbed its third straight defeat and now totes a 3-10 mark for eighth spot.

Whoppers grill Barako

Burger King kept its quarterfinal slot bid alive after surviving Barako Bull, 102-99, and ended a two-game slide for a 5-9 win-loss mark.

The Whoppers leaned on their steady hands in the free-throw line to repulse the late uprising of the Energy Boosters, who dropped their ninth straight game and are now tied with Coca-Cola for the last spot with 2-11 card.

“We’re just trying to stay out of the cellar. Survival lang ang gusto namin and play a little longer this conference,” said Burger King head coach Yeng Guiao who drew a conference-high 221 points from veteran Richard Yee.

“We’ve been struggling but I still have high hopes for this team. If we could gain our confidence back, we will be a more formidable team,” he added.

Yee also had 8 rebounds and 4 assists in his best game in years in the league. Beau Belga and Gary David each had 14 markers for the Whoppers.

Yee anchored a 14-4 run that helped Burger King build its biggest lead of the game at 78-65 with 1:06 left in the third quarter.

But Barako Bull, behind the hot hands of Felix Belano and Jec Chia in the three-point area, managed to come back and even threatened to steal the game away from the Whoppers.

Belano hit back-to-back treys to shove the Elasto Painters within three, 91-94, but Ronjay Buenafe responded with a pair of free throws off the sixth foul of rookie Bryan Faundo to give Burger King a 96-91 cushion.

Richard Alonzo hit a pair of freebies for Barako Bull in the ensuing play but David also his own pair of bonus and the technical free throw off coach Leo Isaac to put the lead back to 99-93, 56.7 ticks left.

But the Elasto Painters refused to die early as Chia banged in a triple, 96-99, and were given a chance to move closer when Buenafe missed his attempt but Benedict Fernandez’s three-point shot was way off the mark that led to two free throws of David, 101-96.

Yousif Aljamal tried to bring his team back as he netted a triple, 99-101, but Buenafe hit one of the two free throws to seal the win for the Whoppers.

Alonzo also had a conference-high 18 points for Barako Bull, which is now in its worst franchise start in any conference. Belano added 16 points off the bench.