A San Miguel Beermen comeback levelled the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinal series at 2-2, as the Beermen beat Barangay Ginebra 108-102 on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The result forces a winner-take-all Game 5.
San Miguel Beermen comeback erases a 17-point deficit
Barangay Ginebra led 55-41 at halftime and pushed the margin to 61-44 in the third quarter. George King then hit a triple that ignited a 22-0 San Miguel run, with Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross and CJ Perez also scoring from beyond the arc to put the Beermen ahead 66-61.
San Miguel kept pulling away and led 81-70 before Troy Rosario answered with a triple for the Gin Kings. The Beermen replied with a 6-0 burst to go up 87-73, having scored 46 points in the third period while holding Ginebra to 18.
George King leads San Miguel's scoring
King finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. Ross added 20 points, nine assists, six rebounds and five steals, while CJ Perez scored 14 and Don Trollano 11.
June Mar Fajardo contributed eight points, and his fourth-quarter basket briefly halted Ginebra's rally.
Barangay Ginebra's late surge falls short
San Miguel built its biggest lead at 94-75 in the fourth quarter. Ginebra answered with a 10-0 run after trailing 101-85, cutting the deficit to six with 3:47 remaining, and Nards Pinto's triple later brought the Gin Kings within three.
Scottie Thompson paced Ginebra with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Jordan Murphy added 16 points and 22 rebounds. King gave San Miguel breathing room with 1:55 left, but Thompson drew a foul on Fajardo and made two free throws to cut the gap to three with 25 seconds remaining.
King and Ross then converted their free throws to seal the result.
Game 5 will decide the quarterfinal series
The series is tied at 2-2, so the teams meet again for a winner-take-all Game 5. The source report did not state a date or venue for that game.
Quarter scores: 26-26, 41-55, 87-73, 108-102.
The original report was published by gmanetwork.com.
