Tale of Two Young Coaches continues

The Samsung PBA Governors Cup is fast weaving a tale of two young coaches.

Although handling interim jobs, Purefoods’ Ryan Gregorio and San Miguel Beer’s Siot Tanquingcen have done wonders to their teams’ run in the current semifinals and for this they could earn their place in big-time coaching so early in their careers.

With the tide in their favor, Gregorio and his Hotdogs and Tanquingcen and his Beermen try to put more pressure on the Coca-Cola Tigers and the Alaska Aces, respectively, going for two-zero leads in their respective best-of-five duels at the Philsports Arena.

The Beermen and the Aces take the floor at 6 p.m. then the Hotdogs and the Tigers at 8.

Gregorio and Tanquingcen continued to perform well though working on an interim basis, holding their own against veteran tacticians Chot Reyes and Tim Cone as Purefoods and San Miguel drew first blood in the semis. The Hotdogs tamed the Tigers, 89-86, while the Beermen conquered the Aces, 72-66.

The Tigers and the Aces set out the favorites in the Final Four, being seeded higher in the playoffs. Coca-Cola and Alaska also won by a big margin over Purefoods and San Miguel in the eliminations.

But fortunes have shifted and roles reversed. Purefoods and San Miguel could well set up another title playoff if Reyes and Cone, with a combined 10 championships in their credit, can’t get even with Gregorio and Tanquingcen tonight.

"I love our chances now. It’s like a race. You always want to get ahead. That’s important with Game One. It gives you the psychological edge," said Gregorio.

"I can say we got lucky Tuesday because we won despite committing 24 turnovers. But we can’t afford to get those many mistakes and hope to win again in Game Two," said Tanquingcen.

The Beermen found Boybits Victoria as their main man in Game One with the pointguard out of San Beda making a personal-best nine three-pointers for a game-high 27 points.

Victoria later said: "Simula pa lang maganda na ang feel ko. And I was thinking that I need to step up dahil alam ko pagod at bugbog na ang imports namin dahil sunod-sunod ang laro. Nagpapasok ang mga three-points ko, pero sa susunod siguro lusot naman."

Victoria carried much of the offensive load for San Miguel with Mario Bennett and Lamont Strothers struggling for their shots. The two imports were outscored by their Alaska counterparts James Head and Ron Riley, 30-38.

For Purefoods, Derrick Brown once again became the man of the hour, coming away with the crucial baskets at the finish and leading the Hotdogs to the stirring come-from-behind win.

"Game One became an imports’ game. Derrick Brown and Ron Hale figured in a shootout. We know there’s no way we can stop Hale but we need to find an antidote to at least neutralize him in Game Two," said Gregorio.

The imports scored more than half of the total output in Game One of the Purefoods-Coca Cola duel with Brown and Kelvin Price combining for 53 points and Hale and Rossel Ellis firing 51 points together.

Gregorio pulled some rabbits in his hat as he gambled on the half-healthy Ronnie Magsanoc to overcome the Tigers’ pressing defense then turned reserve forward Richard Yee to an offensive weapon down the stretch.