San Miguel grinds out gutsy win to take 3-0 Finals lead

AZ Reid. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

A victory away from championship number 21.

San Miguel moved on the brink of winning the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup title with a 96-89 victory over Alaska on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum to gain a 3-0 lead in their best-of-7 championship series.

Arizona Reid recorded another huge game, scattering 41 points on top of 12 rebounds to pace the Beermen to their third straight win over the Aces.

June Mar Fajardo added 14 markers and 19 rebounds, as Alex Cabagnot added 13.

Alaska finally got the defensive intensity it was looking for in the Finals, controlling the tempo for the whole game which led to a nip-and-tuck battle between the two teams up until the end.

Reid, however, spurred a 9-2 run to give the Beermen a 93-87 lead in the final 1:21.

Calvin Abueva dunked the ball to cut the deficit to four, 93-89, in the final 37.2 seconds followed by a Cabagnot split from the line. But JVee Casio could not convert on his trey on the other end before Marcio Lassiter iced the game from charity stripe with 14.6 remaining.

San Miguel, the league’s winningest franchise, joins 11 other teams which took a dominating 3-0 lead in the Finals, and all of which won the championship.

Game 4 is on Friday, 7 p.m. also at the same venue.

But Austria knows that the celebration still has to wait.

“There’s still four games remaining, but the percentages are favoring us,” he said.

Romeo Travis led Alaska with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Abueva got 15 markers in the defeat.