SMB tests comeback prowess again

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San Miguel Beer is back in a situation where the Beermen thrive most.

On the brink of blowing their title-retention bid after absorbing their first back-to-back losses this season, the Beermen leaned on their proven comeback prowess to whip the TNT KaTropa, 104-88, Saturday and force a deciding Game 7 in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal duel today.

TNT, the first and so far the only team to rule the event three straight which SMB is trying to duplicate this time, waged a torrid stand in Game 6 and even led by 12 points at 59-47 early in the third quarter.

But the Beermen finally responded with a balanced attack to wrest the upper hand at 68-63 then lowered the boom on the KaTropa with a 17-4 blast for a 92-77 lead from 75-73 in the last quarter.

“All our guys really wanted to win. Despite a bad first half, they came out and did the best they can in the second half,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.

Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra also lived to fight another day in their semifinal duel with sister team Star by taking Game 6 with a 91-67 decision Sunday night. The Kings and the Hotshots break their 3-3 tie Tuesday.

The Beermen, in the record books for pulling off the first four-game sweep of the title after trailing 0-3 against the Alaska Aces here last year, seemed to have an easy path to the finals after extending their sizzling 10-1 run in the eliminations by ousting Rain or Shine in the quarterfinals (98-91) and ripping TNT in their initial semifinal meeting, 111-95, for a franchise-best 11 consecutive wins.

But the KaTropa found a way to minimize the contribution of the hulking 6-foot-10 SMB center June Mar Fajardo as Kelly Williams, the 2008 former MVP, asserted himself in the paint, and hacked out the season’s first successive conquests of the Beermen, 87-85 and 98-92.

It took a career-high 31 points from Chris Ross for SMB to tie the series at 2-2 but TNT bounced back in Game 5 with a 101-94 win to send the Beermen against the ropes again.

Fajardo, a strong bet for a third straight MVP plum this year, continued to miss point blank shots in Game 6. But the Beermen drew steady firepower from Ross, Arwind Santos, RR Garcia and Alex Cabagnot and their combined artillery eventually doomed the Texters.

In the end, Fajardo finished with his 11th career 20-20 game with 23 points and 21 rebounds. Santos added 21 points, Cabagnot added 19 and Ross 14.

Rookie TNT forward Troy Rosario missed the game to fulfill a wedding date set a long time ago but he has played inconsistently so far. The Gilas Pilipinas recruit even failed to contribute a single point in the semifinal opener.

The Star-Ginebra duel is an interesting matchup between teams that bloomed under coach Tim Cone, the winningest PBA mentor with 19 titles so far. Cone was at the helm when he guided San Mig Coffee to a sweep of all three tournaments in the 2013-2014 season. Then the SMC management opted to move him to Ginebra while tapping his chief assistant coach Jason Webb to handle what is now known as the Star Hotshots.

Cone struck pay dirt for Ginebra in the Governors’ Cup last year and is hoping for a title repeat in this tournament against his old team now coached by Chito Victolero, who took over from Webb at the start of the season.