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Photo Credit: Denrei A. Catalan

Against a tall Qatar National Team, the San Miguel Beermen stood tall even in defeat as they showed that they can play head-to-head with the giants of Qatar. The Beermen lead for the first two quarters but lost gas in the second half giving Qatar the win.

Dondon Hontiveros leads the Beermen charge with a team-high of 24 points. Failure to sustain interior defense and spotty officiating were some of the causes of the defeat.

SMB will be up against local basketball club Al Sadd, the same team that the Purefoods TJ Giants beat when they played here several days before.

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Qatar Nationals turn back San Miguel Beer

Source: INQUIRER.net
by Romina Austria | September 20, 2008

DOHA, Qatar — A San Miguel Beer squad that couldn’t do anything wrong in the first two quarters couldn’t find anything right going for it in the last two.

After an explosive start that saw them leading by as many as 12 points, the visiting Filipinos turned cold in the last 20 minutes to eventually bow to the tall Qatar National team, 71-62, at the Al Gharrafa Sports Club here on Thursday night (Friday morning in Manila).

Disappointed Filipinos who made up majority of the estimated sell-out crowd of 6,000 headed for the exits with still a minute left when the hosts went up by nine, 69-60.

A 10-0 run gave the Qataris, who wear Philippine-made jerseys, the lead for good, 53-44, two minutes before the payoff period. They increased the lead to 16 points, 67-51, in the last 8:15.

“We lost our focus and discipline,” lamented SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen. “We failed to sustain our interior defense.”

Dondon Hontiveros scored the game’s first two baskets and had four triples en route to 18 points in the first period which the Beermen took, 25-15.

Dorian Peña, Jay Washington and Ken Bono took care of the defensive chores, not allowing 6’9″ Ali Turky Ali, 6’7″ Erfan Ali Saeed and 6’11″ Hashim Zaidan Saeed anywhere near the basket.

Danny Seigle opened the second quarter with an inside stab to hand the Beermen, which carried its former name Magnolia Beverage because alcohol-producing companies are not allowed here, their biggest advantage, 27-15.

But spotty officiating, a common complaint by visiting ballclubs, turned the game around near the interval. SMB was slapped four consecutive fouls in a span of one minute, allowing Qatar to close in at 32-33.

“There were questionable calls but those shouldn’t justify our loss,” said Tanquingcen.

Fans rushed to the court after the match to get autographs and pose for pictures with the Beermen.

Overeager security personnel, however, dampened the excitement when they pushed the Beermen away from the fans to, as they later explained, avoid a stampede. Assistant coach Pido Jarencio had to plead with the security men to allow the fans to get near the basketball players, saying the scenario would be repeated in their next two basketball games.

The scores:

QATAR 71 — Saeed E. 17, Turky 13, Kosar 11, Baker 10, Mansoor 9, Omer 7, Saeed H. 4, Abdi 0.

SMB 62 — Hontiveros 24, Seigle 11, Bono 8, Cortez 7, Gonzales 4, Villanueva 3, Washington 3, Pingris 2, Pena 0, Custodio 0, Racela 0.

Quarters: 15-25; 32-35; 60-48; 71-62