San Miguel Beermen crawled back from 15 points down in the second half and pulled down TNT Katropa, 111-102, to take a 3-2 series lead in the 2017 Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The victory now propels the storied franchise on the cusp of ending their 17-year title drought in the mid-season conference.
“Yung mga players talagang they refused to lose and that’s the character we got in the last four championships,” lauded San Miguel head coach Leo Austria of his wards, regarding the effort they displayed in the second half.
Alex Cabagnot spearheaded SMB’s balanced attack with 28 points on 22 tries, to go with eight rebounds and five assists. Arwind Santos also had a notable outing with 27 markers, eight boards, and two steals off the bench.
The Beermen, once down by 15 at the start of the second half, outscored the Katropa 13-6, a run ended by Charles Rhodes’ putback, in opening the payoff period to post their first-ever double-digit lead, 95-85, with 7:08 on the clock.
“I thought after the first half talo na kami because we were not playing the usual game that we have,” said Austria regarding the deep hole they got into. “The second half I think sinuwerte lang kami maybe because of our defense.”
San Miguel even led by 12, 107-95, four minutes later, but TNT gave another serious threat as they scored seven straight points, punctuated by a Troy Rosario lay-up off a steal, to close within distance, 107-102, with 1:18 left.
That, however, proved to be TNT’s last gasp, as Santos’ finger-roll lay-up and Cabagnot’s perfect charities with 24.6 seconds left to play were enough to seal the match and the commanding series lead for the Beermen.
However, despite the confidence-boosting victory, Austria is aware that closing out the championship series will still be a long haul, given that the opposing team knows what to do when it comes to tweaks.
“It’s not yet over,” said the mentor. “66 percent siguro ang chance namin at sa kanila 33 percent. But, next game is a different kind of ball game dahil they keep on adjusting eh. The good thing is sila lagi ang naga-adjust para sa’min.”
“We have to anticipate whatever kind of adjustments they [will] make.”
Rhodes finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds for San Miguel. Marcio Lassiter supplied 17 despite going just 1-for-9 from beyond the arc, while Chris Ross produced 10 points, 11 rebounds, and five steals.
Ranidel De Ocampo led the Katropa with 19 points spiked by three triples alongside six caroms. Guard Kris Rosales played his best game yet of the series as he finished with 16 markers on 6-of-8 shooting.
Joshua Smith had 15 points on a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, while Jayson Castro, who is celebrating his 31st birthday today, only had 12 points. Troy Rosario and Anthony Semerad also had 12 markers.
It was SMB’s defense that stood out in Game Five. They stripped the ball from TNT 12 times, and they swatted nie shots in total. Moreover, their stifling D forced the Katropa to 24 turnovers, and switched it 23 points.
The Beermen will have the opportunity to close out the series in Game 6 on Sunday, July 1, 6:30 PM, still at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
San Miguel (111) – Cabagnot 28, Santos 27, Rhodes 20, Lassiter 17, Ross 10, Fajardo 9, Heruela 0, Espinas 0, D. Semerad 0, Tubid 0, De Ocampo 0.
TNT (102) – De Ocampo 19, Rosales 16, Smith 15, Rosario 12, A. Semerad 12, Castro 12, Reyes 6, Garcia 3, Tautuaa 3, Pogoy 2, Williams 2, Nuyles 0.
Quarterscores: 29-26, 46-61, 82-79, 111-102.
