MANILA – San Miguel Beer will fight another day as it managed to escape Barangay Ginebra, 101-98, Tuesday night to force Game 4 in their PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup best-of-five quarterfinal duel.
Ginebra will try to advance to the semifinals anew on Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Converge will attempt to do the same after it seized a 2-1 lead with a 105-89 beating of Rain or Shine in the first game at City of Dasmariñas Arena in Cavite.
Staring at a sweep after a 126-99 whipping in Game 2, San Miguel led by as many as 15, endured Ginebra’s comeback and found a way to finish on top.
Import George King scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while veteran June Mar Fajardo went to work inside for 18 points and 13 boards.
Earlier, Juan Gomez de Liano notched 19 points, alongside 13 rebounds and six assists, while sustaining the balanced attack by the FiberXers that started in the third period and spilled over into the fourth.
In the end, Converge had little trouble sealing a second straight win and moving closer to a first-ever semifinal stint.
“Maybe we’re just a little bit lucky, nakuha po sa dasal. Tapos hindi po nagsipasok ‘yung ouside shooting nila (our prayers worked. Then their outside shooting didn’t work),” FiberXers coach Dennis Pineda, seen holding a rosary almost throughout the game, said.
“We still need to prepare, hindi pa tapos ang laban (match is not over yet). Expect more from Rain or Shine in the next game,” he added.
For Gomez de Liano, it’s about continuing to do the right things, especially on defense.
“Some of the other players were able to step up, but we were able to limit (Rain or Shine import Aaron) Fuller, (Adrian) Nocum — he had a triple double but were still able to manage, contain him,” he said.
“Kumbaga, minor adjustments lang nagawa namin (We only did minor adjustments) when it comes to preparation so, hopefully, we’d continue to do the right things heading to Game 4.”
After averaging 29.5 points in the duel’s first two games, Fuller scored only 4 points on 2-of-11 field shooting while Nocum had a first-ever triple-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, but committed seven turnovers.
Cameron Clark bucked foul trouble to finish with 18 points, Justine Baltazar added 15, and Jonnel Policarpio and Calvin Abueva tossed in 13 apiece. Justin Arana narrowly missed his own double-double with 12 boards and 9 points.
Felix Lemetti led the Elasto Painters with 18 points while Caelan Tiongson and Deo Cuajao chipped in 16 points apiece.
In the best-of-seven semifinals, NLEX will meet the Converge-Rain or Shine winner while defending champion TNT takes on the San Miguel-Ginebra survivor. (PNA)
The scores:
First Game
CONVERGE 105 – Gomez de Liano 19, Clark 18, Baltazar 15, Policarpio 13, Abueva 13, Arana 9, Stockton 7, Williams 5, Tungcab 4, Garcia 2, Concepcion 0, Santos 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 89 – Lemetti 18, Tiongson 16, Cuajao 16, Nocum 11, Malonzo 10, Clarito 5, Villegas 5, Fuller 4, Caracut 2, Manaytay 2.
Quarters: 32-32; 52-53; 82-75; 105-89
Second Game
SAN MIGUEL 101 – King 21, Fajardo 18, Perez 14, Lassiter 13, Trollano 8, Ahanmisi 8, Ross 7, Cruz 7, Brondial 3, Teng 2, Tautuaa 0.
GINEBRA 98 – Abarrientos 21, Murphy 17, Go 17, Thompson 14, Gray 13, J. Aguilar 7, Rosario 6, Holt 3, Cu 0.
Quarters: 23-18; 54-46; 79-74; 101-98
