Game on Friday (Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay City)
7 p.m. — San Miguel vs Alaska

It took San Miguel just one big quarter to get back into the series.

Making the right adjustments – especially on the defensive end – the Beermen came through with an explosive second quarter performance to clobber the Alaska Milk Aces, 90-80, in Game 3 of their PBA Fiesta Cup title series Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

The desire to win what the Beermen called a do-or-die game was apparent right from the start as they used their quickness and patience to rattle the Aces before coming through with a deluge of baskets in the second quarter that set the tone for a runaway win.

Protecting a precarious 22-20 lead, the Beermen unloaded 17 straight points to rip the game wide open, taking a commanding 49-30 halftime lead.

Compared to the first two games when he struggled offensively due to foul trouble, SMB import Gabe Freeman sizzled this time with 24 points aside from grabbing 20 rebounds in 42 minutes of action.

Freeman got significant help from Jay Washington and Arwind Santos who dazzled the crowd with some highlight plays.

Washington, the Best Player of the Conference contributed 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Santos added 18 points and four boards for San Miguel, which still trails in the best-of-seven series, 1-2.

The Beermen outscored the Aces, 27-12, in the second quarter, enough to gain momentum as they even padded their lead to 25 points. The game was so important for San Miguel since no team has ever recovered from 0-3 deficit.

So far only six teams have comeback from 0-2 to win a seven-game series and San Miguel hopes to become the seventh team to achieve it.

“It’s more like keeping them positive, reminding them what got us here, it’s by playing defense,” SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen said. “We’re playing poorly the first two games, there were mistakes made, but we adjusted well.”

Meantime, Olsen Racela became the fifth player to reach the 900-game milestone after Ramon Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Sonny Jaworski and Philip Cesar.

The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 96 – Freeman 24, Washington 23, Santos 18, Ildefonso 10, Racela 9, Miranda 4, Yeo 3,Hontiveros 3, Cabagnot 2, Pennisi 0, Villanueva 0, Peña 0.
ALASKA 80 – Simpson 16, De Vance 12, Baguio 11, Fonacier 8, Thoss 8, Tenorio 7, Dela Cruz 6, Eman 5, Cariaso 4, Hugnatan 3, Borboran 0.
Quarters: 22-18, 49-30, 71-54, 96-80