Eight in rubber match

And the siege of the underdogs continued.

Duplicating the efforts of Mobiline and Barangay Ginebra Sunday, Red Bull and Alaska also erased the twice-to-beat edge of San Miguel Beer and Pop Cola, forcing a sudden-death among eight teams for the frist time in the PBA All-Filipino Cup quarterfinals last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Coming in full strength with the return of Jimwell Torion and Mick Pennisi from the injured list and gaining breaks on the absence of Boybits Victoria and Dwight Lago in the San Miguel lineup, the seventh-seeded Thunder held their ground against the second-ranked Beermen, avoiding outright elimination in the tournament with an 85-73 win over San Miguel Beer.

The Thunder played the Beermen on even terms in the first half before shifting to higher gear in the last two quarters of play to pull off the emphatic win and continue the trend in the round started by the Phone Pals and the Gin Kings last Sunday.

Scoring only their second win in their last seven games, Red Bull gets a shot at a second straight semis stint in the league as it plays San Miguel in a do-or-die match Sunday. For the record, the Beermen have not missed the semis in the last six conferences and have in fact won the championship in the last two occasions.

"We respect San Miguel so much because of its achievements. We know they are tough to beat specially in a playoff game. But we don’t fear them. We always play well against them and we always match up very well against them," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao in promising to give the Beermen another good fight in their rubbermatch.

However, Guiao was quick to point out that sheer luck played a big part in beating the Beermen last night. He said: "We played not according to our game plans. We committed 16 turnovers in the first half alone and we still won the game. I can sum it up by saying we were lucky. We enjoyed lots of breaks."

True enough, the Thunder saw the breaks of the game going their way in a number of occasions.

Jay Mendoza and Ato Agustin provided portents of things to come for Red Bull when they buried buzzer-beating shots to close the first half and the third quarter. The Thunder forced a 32-all deadlock at halftime and took a 59-51 lead after three quarters.

But the Thunder did flex their muscles and underscored this by getting more rebounds, 51-44; assists 23-9; and shot blocks, 11-5. The team also had a better shooting average, hitting at a 45-percent clip to San Miguel’s 36-percent shooting.