Beermen shoot for no. 1 seed vs Aces

San Miguel Beer wants to do it on its own – to clinch an outright Final Four berth that is.

The Beermen go for it as they tangle with the Alaska Milk Aces in a key match in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday.

“We’ll play hard in a bid to get it against Alaska Milk. We don’t want to rely on wins by other teams,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria ahead of their 7 p.m. tiff with the Aces.

“It’s really a crucial game and I feel Alaska is preparing themselves hard. They even reactivated Sam Eman alam na natin yon na para may panapat sila kay Junmar (Fajardo). Alam din namin na ayaw nilang dumaan sa quarterfinals,” Austria also said.

The Beermen automatically clinch the playoff top seeding with a win over the Aces.

Alaska, meanwhile, needs to sweep its last two games against SMB and Barako Bull for at least a playoff shot at an outright Final Four entry.

Going to the game, San Miguel is entrenched on top at 9-1 while Alaska is tied with Rain or Shine at second place at 7-2.

Fajardo and his teammates ride the momentum of a scorching seven-game run as they square off with the Alaska squad that is coming off a 105-111 loss to Rain or Shine.

Arwind Santos and Fajardo bounced back strong from a hard struggle the last time out, leading the way as San Miguel waylaid TNT, 97-84, in their most recent game.

Santos churned out a personal season-high 30 points that went with 12 rebounds while Fajardo collected 22 markers and 15 boards after both bled for merely nine points in their previous game against NLEX.

Chris Lutz provided bid help on those games as he stepped up in the absence of Marcio Lassiter.

“Marcio is back. Yung playing time nya lang eh magdedepende sa ipaipakita niya sa court. Baka kasi wala pa sa kundisyon dahil matagal-tagal nagpahinga,” said Austria. (SB)

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