San Miguel moved a win away from advancing to the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup Finals after weathering a late-game fightback by Barangay Ginebra, 115-109, in Game 5 of the semis Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen saw their 111-99 lead become just two no thanks to a stepback triple by RJ Abarrientos with 13.4 seconds to go, and it didn’t help that CJ Perez muffed both of his free throws that could’ve given them more room to breathe.
Luckily, his teammates managed to secure the offensive rebound, and June Mar Fajardo was there to do what his teammate could not by going perfect from the foul line and making it a 113-109 advantage with only 8.3 seconds remaining.
Chris Ross and SMB then prevented the Kings from executing a play apparently set for RJ Abarrientos leading to a key steal, and Marcio Lassiter would go on to seal the triumph by going 2-for-2 from the line with 1.1 seconds left.
Now with the 3-2 series lead, the defending champions will try to close it out in Game 6 this Friday, January 16, also at the Big Dome.
