SMB forges deadlock

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

In a game that won’t be forgotten in a long while, San Miguel Beer went on a hot start in the first half then watched as TNT’s vital cogs gobbled up their heroics with key miscues in the end to forge a 127-125 double overtime victory in Game 2 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum

Big shots came aplenty for the resilient Beermen—Terrence Romeo finished with 29 points, hitting six of eight triples, including one that forced the first overtime, June Mar Fajardo nailed two pressure free throws with 32 seconds remaining in the second extra period and Chris Ross delivered with a crucial layup.

And then there was Alex Cabagnot, who finished with 19 points on seven triples, including a big one midway through the first extension and a layup that forced the second overtime.

But the Beermen still needed crucial mistakes by Jayson Castro and Troy Rosario to win a game where prolific TNT import Terrence Jones was thrown out with 21 seconds left in the first overtime.

“We had a lot of lapses, mistakes. But a win is a win,” said coach Leo Austria, who drew five twin-digit scoring performances from his crew.

The series is tied at 1-1 with Game 3 on Friday, giving both teams just one day to recover from a breath-sapping outing and prepare for a key series tiebreaker.

Rosario finished with a career-high 34 points, making 8 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc as he fueled the TNT rally from 17 points down. But he missed two free throws with five seconds remaining that allowed Ross to set up a streaking Cabagnot for the game-tying basket, 114-114, at the buzzer and add another five minutes to the clock.

In all, TNT missed four free throws that could have padded a 114-112 lead, with Brian Heruela also missing a pair earlier.

Castro, meanwhile, turned the ball over to set up Ross for the solo layup that gave San Miguel Beer a 126-122 lead, 15 seconds remaining. The error came after Fajardo made two free throws to break the game’s final deadlock and give the Beermen a 124-122 cushion.

Castro, who finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists, also missed two three-pointers that could have won the game for TNT in the stretch.

“It’s really tough playing TNT,” Romeo said in Filipino in a televised interview. “But we never gave up, no matter what the situation was.”