Terrafirma dragged the heavily-favored San Miguel to a sudden death following a 106-95 shocker in arguably the biggest upset of the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup quarterfinals to date, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Juami Tiongson, Stephen Holt, and Isaac Go joined forces to power the Dyip in taking control of the game early before putting together a strong finish as their batch went on to give the franchise its first-ever playoff win.
Now they look to finish it off in the do-or-die on Wednesday, May 15, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium but they know that it’s easier said than done.
“It’s a different story. This is a champion team. We will do our part. We’ll practice on Monday. We’ll go back to the videos. Tingnan namin kung anong dapat gawin sa mga mali namin,” said head coach Johnedel Cardel.
Tiongson finished with 29 points and six rebounds. Holt tallied 25 points and eight rebounds, while Go fired 22 markers behind a 6-of-11 clip from deep.
Go himself helped set the tone as he fired 17 of his points in the first half, behind five triples, for a 54-49 lead entering the break.
Tiongson and Holt would go on to sustain their hot form after the intermission, with the star tandem conspiring in the fourth quarter to seal it.
As the Beermen got to within four from down 11, the two led an 8-0 run to push their lead to 12 points, 94-82, approaching the game’s final six minutes.
The no. 1 seed kept on trying to mount a comeback but Terrafirma were too tough to crack, with Tiongson scoring five straight points to give themselves the 104-91 advantage — the game’s widest gap — with 2:02 left to play.
“Alam natin na champion team ito eh — sanay silang down, sanay silang lamang. They’ve been through it all. We have to be the one to be extra mature, extra careful, extra disciplined down the stretch,” said Go.
Javi Gomez de Liano played an important role in the win as well, falling just short of a triple-double as he had 15 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. The sophomore winger also chalked up two steals and a block for a full line.
“Everyone had to step up because alam namin na this San Miguel team is very deep and coach John trusts the bench also,” said Go.
June Mar Fajardo had 21 points and 16 rebounds for San Miguel, which is the first defending champion and twice-to-beat no.1 seed to be extended to a sudden-death game in the playoffs, per league stats chief Fidel Mangonon III.
CJ Perez had 20 points while Jericho Cru and Marcio Lassiter added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Beermen, who absorbed their second loss in a row after starting the season-ending conference with 10 straight wins.
The Scores:
Terrafirma 106 -Tiongson 29, Holt 25, Go 22, Gomez de Liano 15, Cahilig 6, Ramos 4, Carino 3, Camson 2, Alolino 0, Sangalang 0.
San Miguel 95 – Fajardo 21, Perez 20, Cruz 11, Lassiter 10, Romeo 9, Tautuaa 8, Ross 5, Brondial 4, Trollano 4, Manuel 0.
Quarterscores: 27-26, 54-49, 82-73, 106-95.
