Ginebra misses help San Miguel level Finals series

San Miguel Beer watched Barangay Ginebra missed crucial endgame free throws and two three-point attempts in the waning seconds to escape with a thrilling 106-104 victory in Game 4 of the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup Finals at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.

Fiesta Cup best import winner Gabe Freeman scored on a follow-up with 26.3 seconds left, hit two free throws 13 seconds later, and Mike Cortez had another split with 9.7 seconds to go before the Beermen held their breath as the Gin Kings muffed their final two attempts in their last offensive play. To be honest, we’re not getting any breaks from the referees. – Siot Tanquincen, San Miguel coach The suspense ending enabled the Beermen to level the best-of-seven series at 2-2.

Game 5 will be played on Monday after the league decided to take a two-day playing date break because of the unavailability of the Big Dome.

No games will be played Friday and on Sunday. If the series stretches into a Game 6 and 7, both these matches will be played on July 15 and July 17, respectively, at the Big Dome.

Freeman finished with 23 points and 21 rebounds and Dondon Hontiveros finally emerged in the series with 19 points – 11 coming early in the fourth quarter. Cortez also had 18 points and Danny Ildefonso, back from a one-game suspension, added 15.

“To be honest, we’re not getting any breaks from the referees," said an obviously disgusted San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen. “Ganun talaga pag kalaban mo ang Ginebra. I’m not taking anything away from them, but that’s the reality and we have to deal with it."

San Miguel was called for 28 fouls, the second to the last of which came on Freeman as he was trying to stop David Noel from attempting at the three-point line.

But Noel shockingly bungled all of his free throws as the count remained at 103-101 in favor of San Miguel with 16.2 seconds left. In the ensuing play, Freeman made both his charities for a 105-101 lead.

The Kings had only 13.5 seconds to go to cut it down, and Noel redeemed himself in a big way by knocking down a triple with 10.7 seconds left to play. Ginebra then fouled Cortez, who missed the tail-end of his free throws with 9.7 seconds to go.

Raffi Reavies pulled down the rebound, dished it off to Chico Lanete, who then tried to win it outright with a three-point shot. The attempt missed but the ball went to the hands of Ronald Tubid, who decided to dribble his way beyond the three-point line. His try likewise missed the mark, the ball falling long as time expired.

“It could have gone either way," said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “It came down to their offensive rebounds."

The Beermen had 23 second-chance points to the Gin Kings’ eight in a game that had 18 deadlocks and 17 lead changes – the most combined in a PBA championship since Game 6 of the Talk ‘N Text-Red Bull Finals in the 2002 Commissioner’s Cup (13 deadlocks, 23 lead changes).

Jayjay Helterbrand, earlier named as the season most valuable player (MVP), missed the final minutes of the tense match after a sore hamstring. – GMANews.TV