SAN MIGUEL BEER UP 3-0

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Brooms, not Christmas gifts, are poised to be exchanged between San Miguel Beer and Talk ‘N Text.

The Beermen weathered yet another ferocious fightback by the Tropang Texters Tuesday night to salvage Game 3 with a 96-95 cliffhanger and move within a victory of sweeping their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Mall of Asia Arena.

SMB can advance to the championship series against the winner of the Alaska-Rain or Shine best-of-7 semis with a Game 4 victory on Friday. The Aces lead the Elasto Painters, 2 games to 1.

No PBA team has come back all the way from such a huge deficit and TNT, which has never before fallen behind 0-3 in franchise history, now faces the Herculean task of climbing out of a deep and dark hole.

Ranidel de Ocampo, who took the inbounds pass with 8.5 seconds remaining and TNT trailing by one, never saw the light of day – or Jimmy Alapag free from 3-point range – as he worked his way against Arwind Santos from the right block in front of the Texters bench.

De Ocampo, 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, spun around Santos at the baseline only to be met by the imposing figure of 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo, blotting the line to the basket.

Alapag, 3 of 5 from rainbow area, waved for the pass but was apparently missed by De Ocampo, who released a weak fall-away jumper that barely nicked the rim at the buzzer as the Beermen rejoiced at their big escape.

Santos, held down to 10 points in Game 2, returned with a vengeance, unloading 23 points with 5 three-pointers, including his last which gave SMB a 95-91 advantage with 1:41 left from several 8-point margins earlier.

It was 91-83 for SMB with 4:38 remaining. But TNT went on an 8-1 binge, keyed by 5 straight points from former Beerman Jay Washington, to close the gap.

“We were lucky to salvage this game,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.

A De Ocampo triple cut SMB’s lead, 95-94, with 70 seconds remaining and Jayson Castro tied the game with a free throw with 48 seconds to go.

SMB drew a play for Fajardo, who had 18 points and 9 rebounds. But Alex Cabagnot couldn’t find the Beermen center against TNT’s defensive pressure and chose to drive instead, drawing a reach-in foul from rookie Matt Ganuelas.

Cabagnot hit his first free throw but missed the second and TNT called back-to-back timeouts to come up with a game-winning play.

Santos came up big defensively however, with Fajardo making sure TNT’s last gasp was thwarted.

In a rare stroke of fortune, Talk ‘N Text scored back-to-back 3-point shots in the last 3.6 seconds of the first half to highlight a closing 6-0 run that broke a 49-all tie and gave the Tropang Texters a 55-49 lead.

Alapag first set up Larry Fonacier for a top-of-the-key 3-point shot to make it 52-49 after Ganuelas-Rosser missed two free throws awarded for a flagrant 1 foul slapped on SMB forward Doug Kramer.

SMB called time to wrap up the second quarter with a final shot. But backup point guard Jeric Fortuna misjudged the throw-in from the baseline and his pass was intercepted by Castro who took his sweet time to drill in another 3 from the right wing. (WJRHT)

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