SAN Miguel Beer rediscovered its old fiery form and threw its full might against Magnolia Friday night, 108-101, to level the PBA Philippine Cup finals at one-game apiece.
The Beermen slowly kept their distance against the Hotshots in the opening half before coming through with the dagger run in the third period when they scored 13 straight unanswered points.
Alex Cabagnot and Christian Standhardinger sparked the telling breakaway that suddenly turned a six-point San Miguel cushion lead to 74-55.
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The lead ballooned to its biggest at 91-70.
The victory tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1 heading into Sunday's Game 3 also at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"This is what we're trying to avoid na maging 0-2," said coach Leo Austria.
"What we need was to show some energy and that's it."
The Beermen did as seven players finished in double figures led by the 16 each of Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo, who also finished with 10 rebounds.
The balanced scoring was more than enough that San Miguel was still able to survive the ejection of Terrence Romeo on account of two technical fouls with 6:23 left in the game and the defending champions holding a 96-80 lead.
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Chris Ross was also busy offensively for the Beermen with 15 points, as did Marcio Lassiter, who finally hit double figures (15) despite a 4-of-13 shooting from the field.
"What happened tonight was we're able to set-up the plays and we're not concentrated solely on June Mar Fajardo," stressed Austria.
Big man Ian Sangalang was again the pillar of strength for Magnolia with 18 points, but was only held to a single rebound.
Jio Jalalon had 15 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists and Mark Barroca with 12 and seven rebounds for the Hotshots, who had two others finish in double figures.(RG)
The scores
San Miguel (108) - Fajardo 16, Cabagnot 16, Ross 15, Lassiter 15, Santos 13, Romeo 13, Standhardinger 13, Pessumal 5, Rosser 2, Nabong 0, Zamar 0.
Magnolia (101) - Sangalang 18, Jalalon 15, Barroca 12, Pascual 11, Lee 10, Melton 9, Simon 6, Ramos 6, Herndon 5, Dela Rosa 4, Reavis 2, Calisaan2, Brondial 1.
Quarterscores: 23-22; 51-41; 83-66; 108-101.
