In the end, San Miguel Beer’s experience played a pivotal role in punching its way back to the championship round of the PBA Philippine Cup.
The reigning champion Beermen did it the hard way, trailing three fourths of the way before pulling the rug from under Rain or Shine, 107-100, on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena, and keeping their title retention bid alive.
San Miguel stared at huge deficits for the most part of the game and had to overcome leads by as much as 19 points, but the Beermen held the Elasto Painters without a field goal for nearly four minutes to start the fourth period.
With their defense starting to make their presence felt, the Beermen’s firepower took over from there as a 13-4 run allowed them to get back into the contest capped by Maercio Lassiter’s step-back jumper that shoved his team within 88-91.
But entering the last three minutes, San Miguel’s defense tightened up once more and held Rain or Shine without a basket from there while unloading 10 unanswered points to finally end the season of the Elasto Painters.
By becoming the first team to reach the championship round, San Miguel will have the luxury of getting the much-needed rest while waiting for its finals opponent.
The Beermen will have a chance to recharge and prepare longer as they await the winner of Barangay Ginebra-Meralco semifinals encounter.
In Game 4, Ginebra rediscovered its old, deadly form in running roughshod over Meralco, 90-71, to level their best-of-seven semifinals series at 2-2 apiece.
Scottie Thompson’s awakening in a game the Gin Kings couldn’t afford to lose put the league’s crowd darling back in serious contention as the former Most Valuable Player knocked in 10 of his 15 points in the third period before Japeth Aguilar, a picture of consistency all game long, put on the finishing touches.
