THE SAN MIGUEL Beermen will try to end it all today as they gun for the championship against the Indonesia Warriors in Game 2 of the best-f-three finals series in the Asean Basketball League at the Mahaka Square in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Beermen slipped past the Warriors in Game 1, thanks to a strong endgame kick that allowed them to escape with an 86-83 win in a game that saw them trail by as many as 14 points and by seven in the final canto.
SMB head coach Bobby Parks is hoping that his squad will start off more smoothly and not play catch-up for the rest of the game.
“The important thing is we have to get off to a good start. Tonight (Game 1), we didn’t really play well in the beginning but we hung around. I don’t know if that was a little rust or a little championship jitters but we managed to keep our composure,” said Parks on his statement to the press after their Game 1 win.
The game was a hotly contested one but ended in SMB’s favor when Indonesia’s Mario Wuysang failed to convert on a trey at the final buzzer that would have tied the game.
Duke Crews led the Beermen with 22 points, followed by Leo Avenido with 21 points and Nick Fazekas with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
But it was veteran guard Froilan Baguion that made the most impact as his championship poise, which he gained while playing for the league’s first two champion teams the Philippine Patriots and the Chiang Thailand Slammers, showed down the stretch.
Baguion hit an important three-point shot which tied the game at 77-all and also dished out a nice pass to Fazekas for a one-hand running shot plus a foul to give the Beermen an 80-77 lead. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio