LA Tenorio reminded San Miguel Beer of his legend.
With Barangay Ginebra’s conference on the line, head coach Tim Cone relied on his old reliable to perform a miracle.
Tenorio made it happen.
The veteran guard nailed the game-winning three-pointer from the left elbow over the outstretched arm of Jericho Cruz with 3.1 seconds left in the Kings’ memorable 88-87 Game 6 escape to force a best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup semifinals decider Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Miracles do happen,” a relieved Cone said after his wards clawed back from 16 points down in the first half to level the series at 3-3.
Game 7 is set Wednesday at the same venue.
Tenorio scored all of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, none bigger than his dagger triple off a feed by Scottie Thompson with Ginebra down 85-87 after Beermen center June Mar Fajardo split his foul shots on the other end with 10 ticks left. Tenorio played just a total of nine minutes and 40 seconds.
The reactivated 40-year-old skipper, who was moved to the unrestricted free agent list last May to fulfill his head coaching job with Gilas Pilipinas Youth team, bailed out the Kings from collapse following a costly passing error by rookie RJ Abarrientos with 13 seconds left. Thompson was forced to foul Fajardo to stop the clock.
“We were grasping for straws out there all game long trying to find a way to find a way to defend June Mar with Japeth (Aguilar) cramping most of the game. We turned to our veteran, our leader, and he made the big plays down the stretch,” Cone added.
“That is something we weren’t able to do in this series but LA’s presence out there allowed us to make big plays down the stretch. Obviously, the big shot. But there’s a lot more than just that big shot. There were plays before that, that kept us in the game.”
Thompson led the Kings with a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds in an outstanding performance he laced with eight assists while Aguilar made 16 markers.
Abarrientos, Stephen Holt and Troy Rosario had 12 points each for Ginebra.
The Kings went down, 38-22, in the second quarter and played catch-up before overtaking San Miguel, 71-70, in a 13-0 run that bridged the closing stretch of the third until early fourth.
Don Trollano answered with a four-pointer as the Beermen regained the lead before Ginebra’s furious never-say-die mantra kicked in.
Fajardo had 21 points and 16 boards, CJ Perez had 15 points while Trollano and Rodney Brondial added 13 and 12 points, respectively, for San Miguel.
The scores:
GINEBRA (88) --– Thompson 17, J.Aguilar 16, Holt 12, Abarrientos 12, Rosario 12, Tenorio 11, Ahanmisi 2, David 2, R.Aguilar 2, Malonzo 2, Cu 0
SAN MIGUEL (87) --– Fajardo 21, Perez 15, Trollano 13, Brondial 12, Cruz 6, Tautuaa 6, Teng 5, Tiongson 4, Lassiter 3, Rosales 2
Quarterscores: 20-27, 45-54, 67-70, 88-87