SMB derails Air21; Alaska gains

Dorian Peña converted a crucial follow-up shot with 1.6 seconds left and San Miguel avoided what could have been a disastrous finish after enjoying a 20-point lead, nipping Air21, 104-103, to force a sudden-death in their San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta Cup wildcard playoff at the Astrodome last night.

Danny Seigle, Dondon Hontiveros, Olsen Racela, Danny Ildefonso and Kwan Johnson all scored in double figures but Peña emerged as the Beermen’s biggest hero with two key plays in the closing seconds.

The San Miguel gentle giant delivered the deciding basket on a follow-up off a missed drive by Dondon Hontiveros with 1.6 seconds left in the clock.

In the second game, Alaska Milk came back from a halftime huddle with its guns ablaze and completed a two-game sweep of St. Lucia Realty, 95-90, to gain the right to challenge Red Bull in the quarterfinals.

The Aces started the final half with a 10-0 run and never looked back to finish off the Realtors in their wildcard playoff for a seat in the quarterfinals beginning Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Alaska and Red Bull fight in a best-of-five series for a shot at the finals against Barangay Ginebra.

Earlier, Peña stole off Shawn Daniels, paving the way for a fastbreak layup by Ildefonso that pushed the Beermen to within one at 102-103 with 28.7 seconds left to play.

Daniels had a chance to make up for that lapse only to commit boo-boos from the stripe in the ensuing plays, giving the Beermen a crack at salvaging the game.

The burly Air21 import missed four straight charities with the last two with still 20.9 seconds left in the clock — long enough for the Beermen to work out a good play in taking the win that kept them in the hunt for a title-repeat in the reinforced tourney.

"It was a lucky shot. It so happened that I was in the right place at the right time," said Peña of his heroic act.

San Miguel coach Jong Uichico later said they drew some strength from a text message sent by Peña’s wife Gorgette.

"Gorgette texted me something that we used as a motivational tool in this game. She texted that ‘champions are not people who never fail but people who never quit‚" said Uichico.

"We still consider this a good win even as we lost a huge lead because we never quit," Uichico added.

Behind the blazing guns of Gary David, Renren Ritualo and Ronald Tubid, the Express made a daring chase from a 20-point third-quarter deficit, 51-71, and threatened to end the series via a two-game sweep.