Beermen barrel past Red Bull in Urdaneta

URDANETA, Pangasinan — Hometown boy Danny Ildefonso made a good show before his cheering townmates and San Miguel Beer repeated over Red Bull with a come-from-behind 95-90 win in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Urdaneta Sports Center here last night.

Ildefonso scattered 21 points, including five in the final minute of the game, highlighting the Beermen’s stirring comeback en route to their third win against two losses.

The Beermen started their campaign in the season-ending All-Filipino tourney with a 101-93 whipping of the Bulls in their previous tiff last March 10 at the Araneta Coliseum. Ildefonso was also dominant in that game, coming up with a double-double performance with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Obviously, the 6-foot-6 slotman dished out a more inspired game before his fellow Pangasinenses, striking hardest at endgame as the Beermen gained the win that enabled them to tie the Alaska Aces at second place on identical 3-2 win-loss records.

The former National U King Bulldog rattled in five straight points as San Miguel pulled ahead to stay at 91-90 with time down to 18 seconds.

It was a heart-rending defeat for the Bulls who enjoyed nine-point margins early in the fourth quarter only to sputter at crunch time.

They went scoreless in the last 47.6 seconds of play while giving away eight points to the Beermen over the same stretch as they absorbed their second loss in four starts.

The Bulls seized control at the onset of the payoff period on a pressing defense and on clutch baskets by Larry Fonacier, Junthy Valenzuela and Enrico Villanueva.

Villanueva sent the crowd up on their feet in one instance as he towered above Dondon Hontiveros for a thunderous jam.

But Ildefonso and his teammates had the last laugh.

After Ildefonso made it 91-90 on his five-point binge, Kiko Adriano helped in their cause when he took a big steal, paving the way for two charities by Danny Seigle with time down to nine seconds.

Celino Cruz compounded their woes when he missed two foul shots in the ensuing play then Danny Seigle sealed the scoring with the two free throws of his own with only 4.7 ticks left.

Ildefonso, Seigle, Dorian Pena and Olsen Racela combined for more than three-fourths of the team’s total output with Seigle also firing 21 points, Pena making 26 and Racela 19.