By Waylon Galvez

There is reason for San Miguel Beer coach Siot Tanquingcen to be happy these days.

Despite a depleted roster with five key players on the injured list at the start of the season-ending conference, the Beermen are currently leading the pack with an unbeaten 6-0, win-loss record in the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup.

“Of course we’re very happy with the way things are going for our team. We never thought of having an unbeaten record, all we want is to be as competitive as we can this conference,” Tanquingcen said.

San Miguel Beer started the tournament with three more players – Danny Seigle (back), Lordy Tugade (knee) and Marc Jean Pingris (ankle) – going to the injured list.

Former two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Danny Ildefonso missed the previous Philippine Cup due to knee and ankle injuries, while point guard Mike Cortez went down with an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury.

The 6-foot-5 Pingris already made his way back to the roster in SMB’s previous game against defending champion Barangay Ginebra, while the 6-foot-6 Ildefonso is set to return early next month.

SMB also opened its campaign sans original import Nate Carter, who failed to get the required clearance from his previous team in France (St. Etienne). Still, the Beermen found a way to win against the Alaska Aces (93-89) where sophomore playmaker Jonas Villanueva fired a career-best 27 points.

San Miguel eventually replaced Carter with the acrobatic ex-CBA stalwart Gabe Freeman, who exploded for 40 points in his debut game in a 114-105 win against Burger King (formerly Air21).

So far, San Miguel’s other victims were Purefoods TJ Hotdogs (122-103), Coca-Cola (106-91), Sta. Lucia Realty (98-92) and Ginebra (95-80).

Like the Beermen, the Kings also opened their title-retention campaign with a 110-103 win against Coke where import Rod Nealy missing a triple-double with 42 points, 23 rebounds and nine assists.

But Ginebra – a team also without injured players like Mark Caguioa (knee), Eric Menk (ankle) and Junthy Valenzuela (knee) – uncharacteristically dropped its next five games.

The other day at the Astrodome in Pasay City, Sta. Lucia Realty ended Rain or Shine’s four game winning streak with a 109-100 victory to force a two-way tie for second with similar 5-2 cards.

The five wins in seven games and the four-game winning streak were franchise-best for the Raymund Yu-Terry Que owned team, which won four of its last five with import Jai Lewis, who replaced temporary reinforcement Charles Clark III.

At fourth with a 4-3 card is Burger King, the Yeng Guiao-mentored squad, followed by Purefoods and Philippine Cup champion Talk ’N Text with similar 3-3 records.

“I’m happy where we at right now with an even 3-3 card,” TNT mentor Chot Reyes said following his team’s 124-122 win over Philippine Cup rival Alaska.

Barako Bull is at seventh with a 2-4 slate, followed by Alaska with a 2-5 card, while Coke, which changed import recently when James Penny replaced J.J. Sullinger, and Ginebra are at the bottom with identical 1-5 records.


http://mb.com.ph/articles/200589/who-s-going-stop-san-miguel