Beermen catch Realtors napping, gain lead

San Miguel Beer pounced on Kelly Williams’ lethargic game in ripping Sta. Lucia Realty, 89-71, to grab the solo lead in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Complex in Pasig last night.

Lordy Tugade, Dorian Peña, Jay Washington, Bonbon Custodio and Dondon Hontiveros scored at least 11 each in leading the Beermen past the Realtors who struggled as Williams groped for form all night.

Williams, the reigning MVP, had a miserable 1-of-15 shooting, nailing his lone basket — a trey — with only 1:10 left to play. It was a career-low output for the Fil-Am forward from University of Detroit-Oakland.

San Miguel bounced back from an upset by Red Bull Saturday, thus, gaining solo leadership with a 5-2 win-loss card. Sta. Lucia suffered a second straight defeat and slid to joint third with Talk n Text, Rain or Shine, Air21 and Red Bull on identical 3-3 slates.

Lordy Tugade scored a game-high 19 points, including a three-pointer touching off the Beermen’s vicious 17-5 run to close the game.

Both teams missed a key player with Ryan Reyes and Marc Pingris sitting out the game due to injury.

The Realtors actually started strong, scoring all of the game’s first seven points and enjoying a 10-point lead at one point in the first half.

Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios has summoned coach Yeng Guiao today to give his side on Wednesday game’s incident where the Red Bull coach lost his cool and was later ejected from the contest at the Big Dome.

Guiao was also caught on video flashing a dirty finger to the referees after drawing his second technical infraction in the match.

Despite Guiao’s ejection, Red Bull played tough up to the end, scoring another surprising victory with a 104-102 upset of Talk n Text.

Guiao, who’s to call the shots for the RP team competing in the Fiba-Asia championship next year, has incurred no less than six technical fouls in the current season. Coaches Tim Cone and Chot Reyes were slapped two each.

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine clashes with Talk n Text then Air21 collides with Purefoods in a pre-All Saints Day presentation today at the Big Dome.

All four teams have been struggling to maintain consistency in their game with no one enjoying an above .500 mark.

 “This team has several faces and we have yet to find a consistent fighting face,” said Reyes, baffled as his Tropang Texters can easily overcome an erstwhile unbeaten leader like Alaska in one day, then fall to a widely-regarded lowly team such as Red Bull the next.– Nelson Beltran