MANILA, 30 June 2003 — Coca-Cola set a record last year by becoming the first rookie team to bag the PBA All-Filipino Cup right on its first try.
Now, the Tigers are poised to assault the record books anew.
Coca-Cola held off Sta. Lucia Realty 99-93 on Saturday night at the PhilSports Arena to make a return trip to the finals of the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup.
“The hardest thing to do in the PBA is to keep a big lead,” said Coca-Cola coach Chot Reyes, whose team blew a 24-point lead but held on to win their second straight game and end their best-of-five semifinals series at 3-1.
As of now, Reyes and his wards have time to savor their second straight finals stint, a feat no team has done in six years. And beyond that, the prospects of successfully defending the crown, which no team has pulled off since Great Taste in 1985.
What makes the victory sweeter is the fact Sta. Lucia refused to just wilt after being faced with that huge deficit.
Dennis Espino scattered 15 points in the final period and Francis Adriano added 11 as they spearheaded the Realtors’ big comeback which enabled them to close in at 93-95. Sta. Lucia gained a chance to move closer or even tie after Jeffrey Cariaso split his free throws off Espino with still 36.8 seconds to go. But Adriano missed his lay-up.
Edward Juinio made another split before the Realtors failed to score in their last ball possession. and Rudy Hatfield sealed the victory with a lay-up.
Kenneth Duremdes finally saw action for the first time in the semis, but could only manage 17 points, 12 coming in the first period. With the win, the Tigers became the second team in the league history to be in the All-Filipino Cup finals in it’s two years in the league after Purefoods which did the trick in it’s first seven years in the PBA from 1988-1994 with Reyes himself as head coach in 1993 and 1994.
It was also the team’s second finals stint in four conferences and Coach Chot’s 7th in the PBA finals since he became head coach in the PBA in 1993 with Purefoods and 4th in the All-Filipino Cup.
Cariaso who topscored for the Tigers with 26 points matches his highest output this conference which he did last March 30 in a 77-86 loss to Alaska while Espino who also scored 26 points posted his highest output since his 29 two years ago in a 94-99 loss also to the Aces.
In the second game, John Arigo buried a triple with seven seconds remaining and Alaska muffled Talk ‘N’ Text’s final foray to the basket to ice a heart-stopping 87-86 overtime victory. “That was all heart,” said a breathless Arigo after the game.
Had he missed the shot, he would have shouldered the blame of the loss, which would have ended Alaska’s semifinal run: He shot just six-of-20 before that three-point heave and he committed two big mistakes, one real and one, he claims, imagined.
Talk ‘N’ Text had clawed to within a point, 77-76, in the last 39 seconds when Arigo failed to execute an inbounds play and committed a five-second violation.
The Phone Pals failed to capitalize on that and Harvey Carey missed a shot, giving Alaska back the ball and a chance to seal the win, but Arigo fell to the floor and called a timeout the Aces no longer had.
Or so the referee said.
“I honestly did not call any timeout because I knew before the play that we no longer had one,” said Arigo.
“That’s the reason why we were called for five seconds in the play before. John couldn’t call a timeout then because he knew we didn’t have one. If he had to commit a mistake in calling a timeout we didn’t have, he should have called it during that inbounds play,” Alaska coach Tim Cone rationalized.
But the Aces were slapped a technical foul anyway by referee Boy Cruz, the official who said Arigo sued for time, and Talk ‘N’ Text tied the match at 77 with a free throw by Jimmy Alapag.
