Relentless Beermen outgun Aces, even series at 2-2

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Beer fought relentlessly from the opening tip to the final buzzer Wednesday night, not giving Alaska Milk the slightest of openings for another dramatic comeback as the Beermen pounded out an 88-70 victory to again draw level after four games of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Blowing away a 22-point bulge in Game One and a 21-point bubble in Game Three, the Beermen exerted a more determined effort to erect an even bigger lead (55-26), and played focused to the finish to complete a decisive victory that reduced the best-of-seven series to a best-of-three affair.

The two teams slug it out for the pivotal 3-2 series lead in Game Five also at the Big Dome Friday.

Wary of falling to a deep 1-3 hole, the Beermen played the way they wanted the whole 48 minutes and thus dominated the Aces from start to finish.

Inserted to the starting five, Alex Cabagnot responded and proved to be among the big keys with a fiery performance that netted game highs of four three-pointers and a total of 22 points. He didn’t score more than seven in any of the first three games.

 The four other SMB starters in Junemar Fajardo, Chris Lutz, Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter delivered double-digit outputs while Ronald Tubid chipped in 13 points, three rebounds, two steals and one assist in a 14-minute relief job.

The whole team played a solid game for the crucial win that they dedicated to SMC top boss Ramon S. Ang who turned a year older Wednesday.

“I think the main reason why we won this game was that we learned from our losses in Game One and Game Three. The guys were completely focused,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.

“The guys knew what to do. That’s why every time Alaska made a comeback bid, we immediately had an answer,” Austria also said.

“We got beat. Everyone just saw why they’re the No. 1 team after the elimination round,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.

“It’s nothing new for us to struggle, but they really shot the lights out tonight. More than our guys playing terrible, SMB played well and they deserved to win,” Compton also said.

Calvin Abueva had another explosive performance with 22 but failed to get the needed support from his teammates. Jvee Casio went scoreless in a game for the first time in his pro career.

Completely outclassed, the Aces enjoyed the lead just once at 2-1 and trailed 16-33 in the first quarter, 26-49 at the half and by as many as 29 at 26-55.

And no way the Aces could pull off another come-from-behind feat with the Beermen working on all cylinders, dominating the boards at 53-35 and punishing the Alaska side from all over the floor.

From their 29-point deficit, the closest the Aces could get was to within 17.

Virtually nowhere to be found in the first three games of the series, Cabagnot made his presence felt right in the first half in this game, leading an early breakaway that saw the Beermen lead by 23 at the turn.

Cabagnot came out firing, nearly outscoring the whole Alaska team, 8-10, in the opening quarter.    

Fajardo also started strong, besting his series average (9.0) just in the first half with 11 points on 4-of-5 field shooting on top of seven rebounds.

The SMB gunners torched Alaska, coming through with 12 three-pointers as against the Aces’ two.