Phone Pals shock Beermen

For a change, Mobiline didn’t see the low-bat sign blinking last night.

A charged-up Mobiline crew came out for the first time in a long while, scoring the first reversal of the week-old PBA Governors Cup with a 93-82 bashing of defending champion San Miguel Beer at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Phone Pals started and finished strong and notched their first victory since pulling off an 83-77 decision over the Red Bull Energizers during the elimination round of the Commissioner’s Cup won by the Beermen two months ago.

Sta. Lucia gained a share of the lead with Red Bull and Purefoods as it followed up its 80-77 win over Mobiline Wednesday with a 99-93 whipping of Barangay Ginebra in the second game.

"Ang tagal naming inasam na manalo uli. Hindi ko na nga alam kung kailan kami huling nanalo," said coach Louie Alas as his Phone Pals rebounded from a 77-80 loss to the Sta. Lucia Realtors last Wednesday.

The Phone Pals played a well-balanced game although Alas said the key was the good defensive effort they threw on the San Miguel locals.

"Our game plan was to allow (Lamont) Strothers to get all the shots he wanted. The focus of our defense was on the local Beermen. Pinagod namin si Strothers by opening up our defense on him while calling on our players to attack him on offense," said Alas.

True enough, the ploy worked for Mobiline with Danny Seigle, Danny Ildefonso and Olsen Racela getting the bulk of their production only in the second half where the Phone Pals were already in control of the game.

And though Seigle, Ildefonso and Racela ended up with huge numbers, Don Camaso, Jerry Codinera, Vic Pablo and Jherome Ejercito piled up their own numbers, backing up the sweet-shooting Todd Bernard.

Alas’ starting five finished in double figures with Bernard scoring a game-high 26 points on a 3-of-5 shooting from the three-point area and 8-of-16 showing from the two-point zone. Camaso added 22 points and nine rebounds, Codinera 14 points and 10 rebounds, Pablo 12 points and two rebounds, and Ejercito 10 points and nine assists.

Strothers came up with 21 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block despite playing with a slight fever.

The Beermen suffered their first defeat in a long while. But not without a fight.

Though San Miguel played the catch-up role practically throughout the game, the team gave Mobiline a scare as it came to within five points at 77-82 with still 3:36 left to play on a decisive run fueled by Racela and Ildefonso.

But the Phone Pals didn’t panic.

Mobiline eventually settled the outcome of the game on an 8-0 run started by Ejercito with a drive off Racela and capped by Camaso’s three-point play off Strothers.