ANTIPOLO — San Miguel will head into the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals streaking after sending Phoenix skidding to its second straight loss following a 116-104 victory on Saturday night at the Ynares Center here.
The Beermen pulled away only in the fourth quarter after figuring in a see-saw battle with the Fuel Masters in a meeting of playoff-bound teams, with June Mar Fajardo knocking down the dagger triple for the 113-102 lead with 1:43 left.
Eventually, Coach Leo Austria & Co. would rake in their third straight win, finishing the eliminations with a 7-5 record to break, for now, the erstwhile four-way logjam featuring SMB, Phoenix, defending champions TNT, and Magnolia.
The win, furthermore, enabled the traditional powerhouse to avoid finishing as the no. 8-seed, and could instead finish between fifth and seventh depending on the results of the preliminaries’ final gamedate tomorrow, Sunday.
Bennie Boatwright led San Miguel anew with 34 points on 48.3-percent shooting from the field, including five threes, seven rebounds, and five assists.
