MANILA, Philippines–San Miguel Beer pulled out all necessary the stops down the stretch and made the most out of its possessions to carve a gutsy 99-94 victory over TNT and gain a crucial 3-2 lead in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals Wednesday night at Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Import Chris McCullough scored a tough layup over counterpart Terrence Jones, capping off a scintillating fourth-quarter performance and putting the Beermen on top, 95-94, with 28 seconds left to play.
San Miguel’s reinforcement, who joined the team midway the conference in a bid to salvage a wobbly conference, also plucked down a crucial rebound in the next possession, denying KaTropa a chance to answer back.
SMB is one win away 🏆#PBAFinals #PBALabanKungLaban pic.twitter.com/BECRjLodFe
— PBA (@pbaconnect) August 14, 2019
Chris Ross drilled two of his freebies to ice the count and put the Beermen within a victory away from nabbing the second jewel in their triple crown bid.
McCullough finished with a monster double-double of 35 points and 22 rebounds, while Terrence Romeo and June Mar Fajardo had 22 and 16, respectively.
TNT, meanwhile, drew the usual numbers from Jones, who scored 35 points and pulled down 17 rebounds. Jayson Castro and Roger Pogoy chipped in twin digits in the loss that put them in the backseat for the first time in this race-to-four series.
San Miguel, the most decorated club in this league, guns for the clincher on Friday again at the fabled Big Dome.