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San Miguel moved to within a win of a finals berth after frustrating Alaska, 105-94, Game 2 of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen recovered from a sloppy start where they trailed by as much as 16 in the second quarter and staged a furious second-half run to reach 2-0 in their best-of-five semifinals series.
Renaldo Balkman and June Mar Fajardo gave the Aces all they could handle, unleashing 31 and 21 points, respectively. The reigning league MVP also collared 18 boards while Balkman added 10.
A 10-2 run to kick off the third quarter tied the game at 54 and the Aces never led more than five points from then on with the Beermen wrestling control.
Chris Ross added 16 points while Alex Cabagnot had 14 points for San Miguel, which started the conference at 0-3 but is now close to a finals return.
The Aces, who finished the eliminations at no. 2, meanwhile, continued to struggle against the Beermen.
Simon Enciso and import Diamon Simpson paced Alaska, which is on the brink of another ouster by San Miguel, with 19 points each.
Game 3 of the series is on Wednesday also at the Big Dome.