The San Miguel Beermen defeated the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 94-85 in Game 4 of the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Finals, putting them one win away from third straight All-Filipino crown and get the Perpetual Trophy.
June Mar Fajardo, who received his fifth Best Player of the Conference award before tip-off, had another big game with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Sharpshooter Marcio Lassiter scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Chris Ross, the Best Player of the Game, added 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three with nine assists for Beermen, who now have a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Beermen took a 20-2 lead early in the first quarter after a hot start in which they rained down six three-pointers.
In the third period, Lassiter's jumper pushed San Miguel's lead to 26 at 64-38, then Ginebra trimmed that lead to 13 at the end of the quarter led by Joe Devance.
LA Tenorio hit a three and Aljon Mariano scored on a layup to make it a seven-point game, 92-85, with 1:17 remaining in the game, but the defending champion responded and forced Ginebra to a turnover to derail the comeback.
Fajardo's layup with nine seconds left to play sealed the victory for Beermen.
Devance led Ginebra with 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting, while Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio had 12 apiece.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 94 - Fajardo 20, Lassiter 20, Ross 17, Cabagnot 13, Santos 8, Tubid 8, De Ocampo 5, Espinas 3, Heruela 0.
GINEBRA 85 - Devance 22, Aguilar 12, Tenorio 12, Ellis 10, Thompson 7, Ferrer 6, Mercado 6, Marcelo 4, Caguioa 3, Mariano 2, Cruz 1, Taha 0.
Quarter scores: 30-18, 55-34, 76-63, 94-85 | Games Stats.
— PBA (@pbaconnect) March 3, 2017
