By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA — The San Miguel Beermen showed the poise of a champion as they barged into the finals with a 109-102 Game 4 victory over the hard-fighting Star Hotshots in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on Friday night.
The Beermen thus wrapped up the best-of-5 series, 3-1. They now await the winner of the TNT KaTropa vs. Barangay Ginebra semifinal series, where TNT leads 2-1 ahead of Saturday’s Game 4.
SMB thus advanced to its fifth finals appearance in eight conferences, but only their first in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup since 2001.
The victory fuelled the Beermen’s hope for a grand slam this season after winning their third successive Philippine Cup title early this year. The San Miguel franchise first won a grand slam in 1989.
Starting guards Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross did much of the damage for SMB, combining for nearly half of their team’s total points production. Cabagnot finished with 26 points, six boards, five assists, and two steals, while Ross posted 24 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and five steals.
Cabagnot and Ross led an SMB breakaway in the third quarter as they combined for 21 points, including four three-pointers—outscoring the entire Hotshots’ team in that period.
June Mar Fajardo tallied 22 points and eight rebounds while import Charles Rhodes added 21 points and 10 boards.
The Beermen led by as many as 17 points early in the fourth quarter, and were still ahead by 14 points, 99-86, with 3:29 left when the Hotshots made their last-ditch stand, cutting SMB’s lead to just three points, 98-101, capped by a Paul Lee three-pointer from the right corner.
But that proved to be the Hotshots’ last hurrah as the Beermen tightened up on defense to stop the bleeding en route to victory.
Ricardo Ratliffe once again delivered the goods for Star, finishing with 36 points and 17 boards in almost 46 minutes of non-stop play that meant nothing in the end as the Hotshots dropped a third straight game to join the ranks of the vanquished.
Allein Maliksi led Star’s locals with 16 points. Mark Barroca and Ian Sangalang added 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
Lee finished with just eight points on 3-of-10 shooting in 33 minutes. Justin Melton fared even worse as he was held scoreless, missing all his three shots in 16 minutes as a starter.
Game Saturday: TNT KaTropa Texters vs. Barangay Ginebra Kings (Game 4, best-of-5 semifinals; TNT leads 2-1).
