MANILA – San Miguel Beermen kept its title retention bid alive with a 98-86 victory over Magnolia Hotshots in Game 6 of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup finals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
June Mar Fajardo led the way with double-double 23 points and 18 rebounds, while Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross added 20 and 17 markers, respectively, for the Beermen.
The victory allowed the Beermen to level the race-to-four championship series to 3-3 and keeping its quest for fifth straight All-Filipino Cup title alive in do-or-die Game 7 on Wednesday.
The Beermen got its shooting touch early as they surged to a 20-10 advantage on triples from Ross. The Hotshots came to within eight but five straight points by SMB gave them a 25-12 edge.
The Beermen went on to build a 37-16 lead early in the second period on baskets from Christian Standhardinger and Lassiter but the Hotshots responded with a huge rally to come to within 36-50 at the half.
The Beermen were still clinging to a double-digit edge in the third period on inside shots from Fajardo and Standhardinger but the Hotshots threatened to within 62-68 heading into the fourth.
SMB made sure, however, that there will still be another match as early spurt from Terrence Romeo and Arwind Santos allowed them to build its biggest lead at 93-71 on a three-point play by Fajardo.
Jiovani Jalalon finished with 17 points and eight assists, while Ian Sangalang and Rafael Reavis contributed 14 and 13 markers, respectively, for the Hotshots./PN
