Danny Seigle took over where Danny Ildefonso left off as San Miguel Beer romped away with an 86-78 victory over a Benjie Paras-less Shell Velocity squad last night in the Alaxan-PBA All- Filipino Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Held to just seven points in the first three quarters, Seigle sizzled with 10 points in the final period to power the Beermen to their fourth straight win after a harrowing setback to the Purefoods Hotdogs in their initial outing.
But it was the power-playing Ildefonso who sparked the big comeback by the Beermen, who sputtered in the early going but came out strong in the fourth to deal the Zoom Masters their fourth straight setback in the tournament they won last year.
Ildefonso, bracing for a clash with Tanduay Rhum's rock-solid frontline on Sunday, tallied 27 points, one point shy of his career-high of 28, and came away with seven rebounds, five assists and two shotblocks.
"It would have been close had (Benjie) Paras been there. We started slow because, psychologically, parang naging confident 'yung mga players ko nung nalaman nila na wala nga si Paras," said San Miguel coach Jong Uichico.
With Paras out with a pulled muscle, Gerald Esplana tried to step up for the skidding Zoom Masters but his game-high 28 points weren't enough to overcome the Beermen's explosive windup.
Shell seized full control late in the second quarter as Esplana and Mark Telan combined to give the Zoom Masters a 16-point lead but the Beermen put their act together in the third with Ildefonso firing 13 points before Seigle took over by pumping 10 of his 17 points in the fourth.
Despite the absence of Paras, however, the Zoom Masters matched the Beermen's 37 rebounds, shot better from the field (48-to-44 percent) and the foul line (83-to-81 percent).
But their fourth quarter fold-up -- practically a result of limited offensive options -- told heavily on the Zoom Masters, who were outscored, 26-16, by the strong finishing Beermen.
Jay Mendoza tossed in 14 points for Shell, which also drew 13 points from Telan but failed to get enough scoring mileage from Brixter Encarnacion (8), Rommel Santos (6) and Chris Jackson (5).