Beermen near 2nd straight PBA Ph Cup title

Sports

THE San Miguel Beermen started slow but finished strong to hack out a victory that shoved them closer to a second straight All-Filipino title.

The Beermen repulsed the TNT Tropang 5G, 96-82, in Game 5 of the 50th PBA Philippine Cup Finals on Friday night, Jan. 30, needing just one more win to wrap up the highly physical duel.

Bouncing back from an ugly 87-110 loss in Game 4, San Miguel took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and will have a chance to finish off TNT in Game 6 slated Sunday, Feb. 1.

The momentum of the lopsided Game 4 win seemed to have carried into Game 5 for TNT when it led by as many as 16 points and took a 29-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Beermen got their act together in the middle periods with Rodney Brondial and Kris Rosales emerging as unlikely producers.

Brondial finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, coming up big when main June Mar Fajardo was slowed down by a banged-up knee. Rosales came off the bench to add 12 valuable points.

Brondial unloaded eight of his total output in the second quarter that allowed the Beermen to trim the deficit at the half, 47-48. Rosales joined the fray in the third period, where he scored five points in a 30-13 attack that enabled the Beermen to seize full control after building a fat 77-61 lead with only 12 minutes left to play.

Fajardo and Don Trollano contributed 14 points each while Marcio Lassiter and Mo Tautuaa had 11 apiece. CJ Perez also scored in double figures for the Beermen with 11.

Calvin Oftana finished with a game-high 20 points for TNT, which is now in a must-win situation to force a winner-take-all Game 7.

THE SCORES:

SAN MIGUEL BEER (96) - Brondial 17, Fajardo 14, Trollano 14, Rosales 12, Lassiter 11, Tautuaa 11, Perez 10, Cruz 5, Ross 2, Cahilig 0.

TNT (82) - Oftana 20, Heading 13, Galinato 11, Nambatac 10, Williams 9, Erram 5, Rosser 3, Jalalon 3, Enciso 3, Khobuntin 3, Ferrer 2, Aurin 0, Hill 0.QUARTERSCORES: 19-29, 47-48, 77-61, 96-82.(CCM)