Beermen return to Finals

June Mar Fajardo of SMB protects the ball against hard-nosed Moala Tautuaa of TNT in Game 7 of their Final Four series on Monday at MoA Arena. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

San Miguel Beer remained perfect in Game 7s under Leo Austria and both players and coach will come into a series they have never been beaten before ever since their union three seasons ago.

The Beermen took command late in the first period and cruised to a 96-83 decision of undermanned TNT KaTropa at Mall of Asia Arena on Monday night to earn a third successive trip to the PBA Philippine Cup title series and the chance to extend their reign as kings of the season’s most prestigious conference.

“We hope to continue doing it,” Austria said as he guns for a third straight all-Filipino crown starting this Friday against a yet to be determined foe, whom he feels will make their umbrella company the big winner whatever happens.

“Kahit sino sa kanila,” Austria said, referring to sister teams Star and Barangay Ginebra, which will play Game 7 of their Final Four series Tuesday at 7 p.m. also at the Pasay venue. “We’re just glad because whoever wins [that series], San Miguel (the company) will still be the winner.”

Austria will also be shooting for a win that will put him in distinguished company as there have only been three coaches who have won the all-Filipino at least three times—the late great Baby Dalupan, Chot Reyes and 1989 Grand Slam champion Norman Black.

But Austria knows that, sister team or not, the coming best-of-seven series will be a war, “because there is so much pride in all of [San Miguel’s] teams [in the PBA].”

“It won’t be an easy series,” he went on. “Star is getting better and Ginebra, because of the experience of Tim Cone, will be very tough. Come the series, it will be a war.”

June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos scored 22 points each and both completed double-doubles with 19 and 13 rebounds, respectively.

TNT groped for form the entire night after Jason Castro, the best point guard in Asia, was forced to sit out the game because of a left hamstring pull. The others in the lineup simply struggled to fill in the void, with Larry Fonacier shooting 14 points off the bench to lead the Texters.

In complete contrast, Fajardo and Santos got all the support they needed as Chris Ross also finished with a double-double with 18 points and 11 assists, having a lot of leeway for not needing to play defense on Castro.