Reporting note: this article draws on gmanetwork.com; LodiScore provides the summary and editorial framing.
George King's driving layup with 5.2 seconds left, upheld as a goaltending violation against Tony Semerad, gave San Miguel a 135-133 win over NLEX in the PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup on Wednesday at the Ynares Center Antipolo.
The San Miguel comeback erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Road Warriors, the same side that beat the Beermen 110-96 in their previous meeting.
San Miguel closed the elimination round at 9-3 and enters the playoffs having answered the team that tormented it in the first round.
San Miguel comeback turns a 20-point hole into a win
NLEX led 116-96 early in the fourth quarter after Schonny Winston's surge, and the Beermen looked finished.
The recovery came from beyond the arc. Don Trollano hit a four-point shot, Jerrick Ahanmisi and King each connected from deep, and San Miguel pulled to within 127-131 with 2:47 left.
Trollano tied it at 133 with 53 seconds remaining. King then secured the defensive rebound off a Robert Bolick miss and turned it into the go-ahead play, while LJay Gonzales' corner triple at the other end missed.
On the decisive possession, King attacked the basket and challenged Semerad's defense. The shot initially bounced out before the goaltending call gave San Miguel the lead it needed.
George King and June Mar Fajardo carry San Miguel
King finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists. June Mar Fajardo added 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on the same night he joined the league's 10,000-point club.
Marcio Lassiter chipped in 19 points, while Trollano came off the bench for 23 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. CJ Perez scored 14, and Chris Ross and Ahanmisi had eight each.
That spread matters. Trollano's production and Ahanmisi's shooting gave coach Leo Austria scoring outside his two stars once the Beermen fell behind.
The other side of a 135-133 scoreline is the defense. San Miguel conceded 133 points and allowed Burton 43, a workload that late shot-making covered on this night but may not cover later.
Leo Austria wants the killer instinct kept
"Before the start of the game, what I've told to the team is let us play to win," Austria said. "Even though we know that this game is just for positioning, what we want to develop is the killer instinct that we have been having since the first time we won a championship."
That is the standings context around the 9-3 card. San Miguel had already secured a playoff place, so the elimination-round finale was about seeding and rhythm rather than survival. The report did not confirm San Miguel's final seed.
Austria's point is that positioning games still shape habits. A team that trails by 20 in a match it does not strictly need is learning something about itself either way.
NLEX's top-heavy night falls short
Burton scored 43 for NLEX, with Schonny Winston and LJay Gonzales adding 20 each, Tony Semerad 14 and Robert Bolick 13. The Road Warriors led 32-30 after the first quarter, 68-60 at halftime and 112-96 through three.
They could not close it out. The report did not detail NLEX's final elimination-round record or its playoff status.
For San Miguel, the takeaway is narrower than the comeback suggests. The Beermen won a game they had already qualified for, avenged an earlier loss, and did it with a bench contribution and a late stop. Whether that travels into the next round is the open question.
The original report on this game was published by gmanetwork.com.
