Jay R. Gotera
MANILA — The defending champion San Miguel Beermen moved to within a win of advancing into the Finals, beating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 103-94, Wednesday night in Game 5 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series.
SMB now leads the series 3-2 and could wrap it all up in Game 6 Friday for the right to meet the top-seeded Alaska Aces in the Finals.
SMB’s back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo continued his dominating performance, finishing with 27 points on 11-for-17 shooting on top of 12 rebounds as he spearheaded a balanced offense for the Beermen. Alex Cabagnot contributed 14 points and a game-high six assists while Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter both scored 12 points in the game. Four other Beermen finished with eight or more points.
After battling the Painters tooth and nail for three quarters, the Beermen finally seized control of the game in the final period, pulling away by 16 hopes to douse Rain or Shine’s hopes of taking the lead back in the series.
The Painters started strong, taking an 8-2 lead. But the Beermen began warming up to pull ahead and take the first quarter with a 17-13 advantage.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo started working as a one-man wrecking crew for SMB in the second stanza. But his Rain or Shine counterpart, the burly six-foot-six JR Quinahan, turned the game into a personal duel with Fajardo, even outscoring the SMB center 14 to 10 in that period.
Nevertheless, San Miguel took the half with a five-point lead, 50-45. Fajardo continued to assert his might in the third quarter, scoring 11 points. But the Painters continued to hang on to, going on a 9-3 run late in the period to cut the Beermen’s lead to two points, 70-68.
Ryan Arana then scored a buzzer-beater on a drive against his former team to give SMB a four-point advantage entering the final quarter.
SMB guard Chris Ross fired a three-pointer at the start of the final period followed by back-to-back triples by Santos as the Beermen started pulling away.
Alex Cabagnot added to Rain or Shine’s misery as he scored on a three-point play to give the Beermen their biggest lead, a 16-pointer, 92-76, with 6:44 still to play.
The Painters bravely fought on, coming back to within nine points, 94-85, after scoring seven straight points.
But SMB doused the Rain or Shine’s rally when Ronald Tubid fired a three-pointer, followed by a putback from Lassiter and a split from the charity stripe by Tubid, giving San Miguel a commanding 100-85 lead with 2:43 remaining.
The Painters could come no closer as they absorbed a second straight loss against the Beermen.
Quinahan led Rain or Shine with 20 points. Jeff Chan added 15 while Jericho Cruz and Jewel Ponferrada chipped in with 13 points apiece.
Game Friday: San Miguel Beermen vs. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (Game 6 of best-of-7 semifinals, San Miguel leads 3-2).
