Ginebra was given several opportunities to post its trademark come-from-behind win but it bungled them all, enabling San Miguel Beer to pull off a wild 106-104 win that tied their series at 2-2 in the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

As always, the Beermen went to Gabe Freeman at crunch time with the hard-working import making key baskets that spoiled what could have been a glorious night for Ginebra’s jayjay Helterbrand.

Freeman, the Best Import winner who had a game-high 23 points and 21 rebounds in 40 minutes of action, scored on a put back off a missed shot by Mike Cortez, giving the Beermen a 103-101 lead with 26.3 seconds left in the game.

Freeman almost blew that lead when he fouled Ginebra counterpart David Noel while taking a three-pointer. Noel, however, missed three free throws with 16.2 seconds left that left Ginebra supporters bewildered.

The high-leaping Freeman made up for that play when he converted a pair of free throws off Noel’s foul for a 105-101 lead with 13.5 ticks left.

Noel redeemed himself big time when he buried a trey before Cortez split his charities that gave Ginebra their last chance to salvage the situation.

But Chico Lanete, who earlier made a tight basket, missed an open shot although Ronald Tubid got the ball back, he also missed his three-point shot..

With the series reduced to best-of-three, Game 6 is set Monday at the Araneta Coliseum.

"I give credit to them (Ginebra), they played hard, they shoot well,"said SMB mentor Siot Tanquingcen, who criticized the officiating. "We’re not getting any breaks from the refs. Konting kanti foul, sila (Kings) balahibo konting kanti, foul. But I’m not taking away anything from Ginebra."

"The series could go either way, both teams are playing hard, both teams are deserving," he added. "It’s back to square one, bakbakan uli on Monday. As we kept saying, we’ll live and die on our defense."

The scores:

San Miguel 106 — Freeman 23, Hontiveros 19, Cortez 18, Ildefonso 15, Villanueva 9, Washington 9, Pena 7, Pingris 6, Racela 0, Pennisi 0.

Ginebra 104 — Helterbrand 22, Noel 22, Menk 21, Tubid 10, Reavis 10, Baguio 9, Salvacion 5, Lanete 2, Mamaril 2, Wilson 1.

Quarters: 24-26, 47-46, 71-73, 106-104.