Vic Manuel, Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter – three players who were hardly factors for San Miguel in the series opener – showed up on Wednesday and played a championship caliber performance in Game Two of the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven championship series.The three veteran players rose to the occasion and spearheaded the Beermen's big fight back in the titular showdown with a 109-100 triumph over TNT at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.But the biggest story of the game was the Beermen's game plan on grounding the usually explosive Mikey Williams, who was held down to just seven points on Wednesday.Williams was scoreless the entire second half and shot 3-for-10 from the field in 30 minutes of action.For San Miguel coach Leo Austria, the team's championship pride was somewhat challenged right after losing Game One.'In our last game, we were always leading, but we relaxed in the third period,' said Austria. 'We poked the team's pride and they responded. Our killer's instinct was challenged. The game was very close until the early part of the fourth quarter, but they didn't let up.'The Beermen opened the fourth period with a 9-0 run anchored on Manuel, Lassiter and Mo Tautuaa, allowing San Miguel to take a 91-79 lead early in the final canto.Manuel and Lassiter combined for 17 of the 27 scored by the Beermen in the fourth period as they more than made up for their sub-par showing in the first game.CJ Perez, meanwhile, unleashed 14 of his 23 points in the third period as his scoring started to pick up following a slow start.San Miguel won Game Two against a TNT team that played minus head coach Chot Reyes, who left two days ago for Beirut along with the other members of Gilas Pilipinas team to play against Lebanon in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.In his absence, Sandy Arespacochaga, one of his trusted deputies, took over the coaching reins and the long-time assistant coach to champion coaches like Tab Baldwin in Ateneo, Norman Black in Meralco and later on, Reyes at TNT, was able to do a decent job as a pinch-hitting mentor.With Williams struggling, RR Pogoy carried much of the load for TNT.Pogoy finished with 28 points but was scoreless in the fourth period as he also felt the defense of the Beermen.Ross was the catalyst of San Miguel's defense.'I'm happy for Chris. This is the longest he has played since coming off an injury,' Austria added.
