LA Tenorio of Ginebra beats the defense of San Miguel Beer’s Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos for a layup. San Miguel won to lead the series, 3-1. —Sherwin Vardeleon
The game wasn’t even close and suddenly, the best-of-seven Final Four pairing, too, in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Embarrassed the last time out, San Miguel Beer on Thursday night ran roughshod over Barangay Ginebra with a 102-81 mangling of the Gin Kings at Mall of Asia Arena, giving the history-seeking Beermen triple match point for a title series berth in the season’s most prestigious conference.
Six players scored in twin digits and so in control was San Miguel that reigning four-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo didn’t need to score in the final two periods to go 3-1 up and earn a shot at an unprecedented fourth straight title starting with Game 5 this Saturday at Cuneta Astrodome.
“Anything is still possible. We cannot relax,” said coach Leo Austria, who celebrated his 60th birthday in style, when asked if the series is already in the bag.
“We lost a 3-1 lead to Ginebra while I was still a player at (defunct) Shell.”
Though only four out of 51 teams which have trailed by such a margin have gone on to reverse the series, one of those teams that bungled a 3-1 lead was a San Miguel franchise—then carrying the name Petron—in the 2012 Philippine Cup semifinals opposite Talk ‘N Text.
Marcio Lassiter fired 23 and Alex Cabagnot 19 for San Miguel, which got all of Chris Ross’ 11 points in the breakaway second period.
“Of course we will go for it (series-clinching win in Game 5), because we would need to get all the rest we can (for the Finals),” Austria said.
Japeth Aguilar scored 31 and LA Tenorio 20 for the Gin Kings.
In the other Final Four series set 7 p.m. on Friday also at MoA Arena, Magnolia coach Chito Victolero sees Game 4 of their duel against NLEX as a do-or-die match for the Road Warriors.
“For sure, they (Road Warriors) will come out hard, so we should be ready,” said Victolero, whose team has won the last two games of the series but will continue to Marc Pingris—out for the rest of the season because of an ACL tear.
“We must sustain our intensity and aggressiveness,” said Victolero, also aiming for a first-ever title series appearance as a coach.
SAN MIGUEL 102—Lassiter 23, Cabagnot 19, Santos 16, Fajardo 14, Ganuelas-Rosser 12, Ross 11, Espinas 4, Pessumal 3, Lanete 0, De Ocampo 0, Heruela 0, Agovida 0, Vigil 0, Mamaril 0.
GINEBRA 81—J. Aguilar 31, Tenorio 20, Cruz 9, Mercado 5, Caguioa 3, Caperal 3, Ferrer 3, Mariano 2, Manuel 2, Devance 2, Thompson 1, R. Aguilar 0.
Quarters: 32-22, 58-41, 84-58, 102-81