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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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19
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
19
2024
San Miguel may have emerged victorious, but it proved to be costly win for the defending champion.
June Mar Fajardo went down with a left knee injury as the rest of the Beermen held on and nailed a 90-82 win over Rain or Shine Friday at Smart Araneta Coliseum to take the semifinals series, 4-2, and advance to the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The injury to the two-time PBA MVP put a damper on San Miguel’s return to the finals.
The Cebuano giant, who carried the bulk of the scoring cudgels in the first three games, suffered the injury with seven minutes left in the third quarter on a rebound play against Jireh Ibanes amid a Beermen comeback.
San Miguel complete the fightback from 15-points down in the first half, 41-26, stunning the Elasto Painters from that point forward and holding a 15-point lead of their own, 82-67 with 7:35 still left to play.
Rain or Shine still tried to recover and got to as close as four, 86-82 after a pair of Beau Belga free throws with 31.9 seconds left, but Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter put the finishing touches as the Beermen set a rematch against longtime adversary Alaska in the best-of-7 championship duel to begin on Sunday.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 90 – Lassiter 22, Santos 15, Fajardo 14, Espinas 9, Ross 8, CAbagnot 6, Tubid 6, Arana 4, De Ocampo 4, Lutz 2.
RAIN OR SHINE 82 – Belga 16, Norwood 14,Ponferada 14, Chan 11, Ibanes 10, Cruz 6, Ahanmisi 5, Quinahan 4, Trollano 2, Tiu 0.
Quarters: 19-16, 37-46, 70-63, 90-82
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