THE San Miguel Beermen collared yet another championship win and in the process slammed the Grand Slam aspirations of the TNT Tropang 5G.
The Beermen broke away in the third quarter to seal a masterful 107-96 win over the Tropa and cop the 49th PBA Philippine Cup title on Friday night, July 25, at the PhilSports Arena.
Stalled in Game 5, the Beermen flexed their might in Game 6 en route to winning the series, 4-2, and list their league-best 30th PBA title.
San Miguel also denied TNT’s three-peat drive as Cebuano big man June Mar Fajardo showcased the form that made him a multiple MVP winner and tallied 24 points on an excellent 11-of-12 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-9 behemonth also had 12 rebounds and three assists.
Help came aplenty for Fajardo as CJ Perez also tallied 24 points. Jericho Cruz added 13 points, Don Trollano had 12 while Mo Tautuaa pitched in 10 markers.
Cruz snatched the Finals MVP award after putting in a solid performance in the series that saw him average 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.
After winning the season’s Governors' Cup and Commissioner's Cup titles, the Tropa simply ran out of ammunition as it lost one key player after another due to injury.
Already without Jayson Castro and Rey Nambatac, TNT also lost Poy Erram and Simon Enciso at the latter part of the series.
Calvin Oftana fired 19 points to lead the Tropa, who got outscored in the third quarter, 20-34, to fall behind by 19 points, 86-67, going into the final period.
THE SCORES:
SAN MIGUEL (107) - Fajardo 24, Perez 24, Cruz 13, Trollano 12, Tautuaa 10, Ross 9, Lassiter 7, Brondial 4, Tiongson 4, Teng 0.
TNT (96) - Oftana 19, Williams 17, Ganuelas-Rosser 15, Heading 13, Vosotros 13, Pogoy 12, Khobuntin 5, Aurin 2, Heruela 0, Galinato 0. QUARTERSCORES: 23-25, 52-47, 86-67, 107-96.(CCM)