BEERMEN BRING BURGER KING BACK TO EARTH

BEERMEN BRING BURGER KING BACK TO EARTH

Freeman scorches hoops with 40 as SMB gets piece of lead

Sunday, 08 March 2009 Source: PBA.PH

SAN Miguel Beer has shown it could win without an import. With one, it only reinforced its status as one of the teams to beat in the Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference. The Beermen, who won the Fiesta title in 2005, paraded a surprise package in Gabe Freeman to notch a 114-105 victory over erstwhile unbeaten Burger King Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum. Freeman, who planed in only last Saturday and had just one practice session with SMB, scored 17 of his game-high 40 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 of his team's last 17 points. It was the third highest output in the conference after Rod Nealy’s 42 when Barangay Ginebra defeated Coca-Cola 110-103 last Wednesday and Scooter McFadgon’s 41 in Barako Bull’s 91-83 loss to Rain or Shine last March 1. With Freeman taking over, the Beermen had little trouble easing their way to a fitting follow-up to their 93-89 win over Alaska last Wednesday, when they played without a reinforcement. “We knew he was a live wire, aggressive, what we think na kailangan ng team,” said SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen of the 23-year-old who was a former player of Alton Lister, the Beermen's big man coach, in the CBA. “We also knew he would bring in energy, offensive rebounding,” Tanquingcen added. “We did not expect his scoring. It was a pleasant surprise he scored so many points.” Freeman also had 17 rebounds in his PBA debut. Not bad for a man who was hastily called in after SMB's original choice, Nate Carter, failed to secure his release papers from the St. Etienne BC in France. Burger King coach Yeng Guiao opted not to play import Shawn Daniels in the last 18 minutes of the game, but the team still remained on track to rack up its third straight win after grittily fighting back from 26 points down and threatening within 94-97 with 3:33 to go. But the Titans' bid vanished quickly when Freeman took over while getting plenty of support from the likes of Dondon Hontiveros, Jonas Villanueva and Bonbon Custodio. Arwind Santos led Burger King with 26 points and eight rebounds, with four teammates chipping in at least 10 points, including Beau Belga's career-high 17. Daniels wound up with 10 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes. “Hindi ko lang ginamit,” was Guiao's simple explanation of his decision to bench Daniels. Providing their reinforcement chief support were SMB's Jay Washington, Villanueva and Dorian Pena, who had at least 15 points and four rebounds each. The not-so-pretty finish was what worries Tanquingcen the most. “That's a big concern of ours. We cannot let down on defense,” he said. Burger King actually started hot, racing to 10-point leads twice, the last at 24-14, 4:05 left in the first quarter. But once SMB put its act together, there was no virtually no stopping it. The Beermen showed this first by banking on Freeman and Pena in an 18-4 assault that gave them the lead for good at 32-28, before holding the Titans to just 14 points (7-of-21 field shooting, six turnovers) in all of the second quarter for a 56-42 lead at the half. With the likes of Washington, Olsen Racela and Villanueva joining in on the scoring act, the one-sided trend continued in the third quarter. Villanueva's triple made it 68-48, before his three-point play and Freeman's emphatic dunk off his own steal pegged an imposing 81-55 count, 3:30 left in the period. (NCo) The scores: San Miguel Beer 114 - Freeman 40, Washington 17, Villanueva 16, Pena 15, Racela 8, Custodio 7, Pennisi 5, Hontiveros 4, Gonzales 2, Bono 0. Burger King 105 -Santos 26, Belga 17, David 13, Quinahan 10, Daniels 10, Baguio 8, Rodriguez 5, Arboleda 5, Cruz M. 4, Cruz C. 3, Villanueva 2, Alonzo 2, Billones 0. Quarterscores: 27-28, 56-42, 85-66, 114-105.