Isaac Go reset his career high and did what he could not do in Terrafirma's previous meeting with San Miguel – give it a win.
Isaac Go could not have picked a better time to reset his career-high in scoring as eight-seeded Terrafirma stunned No. 1 San Miguel, 106-95, to force a sudden death in their PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, May 11.
Go unloaded 22 points built on six triples and the Dyip slowly chipped away at the Beermen's twice-to-beat armor to set another duel for the semis seat on Wednesday, May 15.
But the former Ateneo standout — who logged his previous career-best of 21 points against, incidentally, San Miguel in the elimination round — had plenty of help from the lethal guard duo of Stephen Holt and Juami Tiongson.
[RELATED STORY: PBA: Top seed San Miguel eyes first semis berth, but Terrafirma plans to derail that]
Tiongson topscored for the Dyip with 29 points on three treys, while rookie Holt, who is at second in the race for the Best Player of the Conference plum, fired four three-pointers on his way to 25 points.
In all, Terrafirma uncorked 15 triples.
“Sabi ko nga, before going to this game, hindi ko iniisip na may second game. This game, we had to be a team para talunin sila. Kailangan every quarter, lumaban kami,” said Terrafirma coach Johnedel Cardel.
Terrafirma also notched its first playoff win in franchise history. When the franchise made the playoffs for the first time in the 2016 Governors’ Cup, the then fifth seed Mahindra didn’t come close to winning after the eventual finalists Bolts ran away with 105-82 win.
Now with Go, Tiongson, and Holt leading the chrage, things are looking up for the Dyip.
While Go made his presence felt in the early goings, Tiongson delivered the finishing kick for the Dyip after dropping 10 of his total output in the fourth period.
When the Beermen threatened to turn the tables, Tiongson restored order with five straight points to give Terrafirma a comfortable a 104-91 with 2:02 left on the clock.
CJ Perez tried to will his team back, bunching together four points to make it a single-digit game, 104-95. But the Beermen couldn’t conjure some magic since then, with Tiongson icing the game with a pair of freebies.
Perez paced San Miguel with 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while June Mar Fajardo had a double-double with 21 points and 16 boards. He also had three assists and three steals.
The Scores:
TERRAFIRMA 106 –Tiongson 29, Holt 25, Go 22, Gomez de Liano 15, Cahilig 6, Ramos 4, Carino 3, Camson 2, Alolino 0, Sangalang 0
SAN MIGUEL 95 – Fajardo 21, Perez 20, Cruz 11, Lassiter 10, Romeo 9, Tautuaa 8, Ross 5, Brondial 4, Trollano 4, Manuel 0
Quarterscores: 27-26, 54-49, 82-73, 106-95