The San Miguel Beermen went ablaze in the second half to turn back the TNT Katropa, 104-88, and force a deciding Game 7 in their 2017 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series, Saturday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
With the victory, the best-of-seven series is now tied at three games apiece, and both squads will battle in a winner-take-all match set on Monday, February 20, 7:00 PM, still at the same venue.
“In spite of a below par performance in the first half, in the second half, I think yun yung ine-expect ng marami sa amin e. Sana, mangyari yun next game namin,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria in the win, which was highlighted by their second half surge.
It was the usual stars who shone in Game 6 for SMB. June Mar Fajardo went full Kraken mode with a 20-20 game, scoring 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting along with 21 rebounds and four blocks.
Forward Arwind Santos supplied 21 markers and nine rebounds, while Alex Cabagnot produced 19 points spiked by five treys along with seven assists to round up San Miguel’s leaders.
“Actually, halos lahat sila, ayaw magpalabas e, yung mga starter dahil gusto nila manalo talaga. Pero I told them na hindi pwede yan, kailangan niyo magpahinga dahil in the endgame, kailangan at least meron tayong 1-4 fuel dun sa tangke natin. That’s what happened,” said Austria of his leaders.
The Beermen even went behind by 12, 59-47, early in the third canto, but the 1-2 punch of Garcia and Espinas conspired on offense to lift the Beermen back into the driver’s seat, 68-63, with 1:45 on the clock still in the said quarter.
San Miguel then gained leverage all the way to the payoff period. With Cabagnot, Fajardo, and Santos scoring at will, the Beermen were able to shun TNT with a 101-82 lead with 1:28 left. From there, TNT never had the chance to fire back.
“Sa fourth quarter [na kami nakalayo] dahil nagkaroon kami ng momentum. In the start of the third quarter, we were down by 12, but the players didn’t give up,” Austria said.
“I think the players are motivated after first half namin dahil binalikan namin what happened to us eh. Especially, when it comes to that situation, we were down and kaya namin bumalik. Yun na nga nangyari,” added Austria.
The Katropa were led by Jayson Castro’s 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting with five dimes, while guards Larry Fonacier and Roger Pogoy each posted 12 markers on a combined 9-of-25 clip.
The Beermen shot 44 percent tonight, hitting 33 of their 75 tries, with most of those coming from their 22 assists. They also dominated the boards, 57-46, and made more second chance points, 22-11.
Both squads committed 18 turnovers, but SMB took advantage of it better as they converted them to 20 points. However, TNT scored more off the break, 15-4, and had more support off the bench, 35-20.
The Scores:
San Miguel (104) – Fajardo 23, Santos 21, Cabagnot 19, Ross 14, Garcia 9, Lassiter 7, Espinas 5, McCarthy 2, De Ocampo 2, Agovida 1, Tubid 1, Heruela 0, Reyes 0, Van Opstal 0.
TNT (88) – Castro 19, Pogoy 12, Fonacier 12, Reyes 9, Williams 8, Rosales 7, Tautuaa 6, De Ocampo 5, Carey 3, Tamsi 3, Rosser 2, Seigle 2, Golla 0, Sumalinog 0.
Quarterscores: 26-27, 45-53, 70-69, 104-88.
