MANILA – San Miguel Beermen displayed its full firepower as it took down TNT KaTropa, 96-86, in the do-or-die Game 3 of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
June Mar Fajardo led the way with double-double 32 points and 14 rebounds, while Christian Standhardinger added 17 markers for the Beermen, which will face Phoenix Fuel Masters in the best-of-seven semifinals.
The Beermen jumped to a 17-3 start behind inside conversions from Fajardo and Standhardinger. It grew further to 25-10 at the end of the period with hits from Terrence Romeo and Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser.
The KaTropa attempted to come close in the second period as it trimmed the deficit to 14-28 but the Beermen were just relentless as baskets from Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos increase the lead to 53-27 at the half.
TNT opened the second half with three-point hits but San Miguel had its response from Fajardo and Romeo as the lead swelled to its biggest of the match at 85-59 on an inside basket by Fajardo.
“Isa lang bagay na nakita niyo this game: Defense,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria. “They were self-motivated. We’ve been criticized before na wala kaming defense but (in Game 3) we saw what San Miguel Beermen defense is.”
Magnolia Hotshots, meanwhile, completed the semifinals casts in the All-Filipino Conference after whipping the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 85-72, behind the second half exploits of Paul Lee.
Holding to a slim 42-37 lead at the half, the Hotshots went on a tear in the third period behind barrage of points from Lee for its largest lead at 72-50 early in the fourth on a basket by Andy Mark Barroca.
The Kings made a huge run in the fourth quarter as it closed the gap to 69-78 behind consecutive points from Jeffrei Chan but a triple by Lee and inside hits from Ian Sangalang sealed the win for the Hotshots.
Lee finished the match with 25 points, including five triples, while Barroca and Aldrech Ramos tallied 13 and 11 markers, respectively, for Hotshots. Chan was the top scorer for the Kings with 17 points./PN
