San Miguel goes for PHL Cup title-clincher
THREE-TIME defending PBA Philippine Cup champions San Miguel Beermen go for their fourth straight title as they seek to close out the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in Game Five today of their best-ofseven finals series at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Holding a commanding 3-1 lead after winning their third straight game in the series in Game Four on Wednesday night, 84- 80, the Beermen now have three attempts to complete a “four- peat” of the All- Filipino title, beginning tonight at 7 p.m.
In Game Four last time around, San Miguel paraded anew its gogetting mind-set, staying around for much of the game before delivering the telling blows when needed as the game progressed, pushing itself on the brink of claiming the championship of the season-opening Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) tournament.
Alex Cabagnot finished with 27 points to lead San Miguel in Game Four with Marcio Lassiter adding 18 points and best player of the conference June Mar Fajardo 16 markers.
“We put ourselves in a good position to win the title with this victory, going up 3-1. But as we have seen tonight Magnolia is the kind of team that would not quit and would continue to fight till the final buzzer,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“They are still alive in the series. Anything is still possible. Having said that, in our next game we should have a good start and take the fight out of them early so we can close out the series,” he added.
LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY
On the part of Magnolia, it said it acknowledges that going down 1-3 in the series has it in a very difficult bind, with the odds of getting out of it not favoring the team.
But the Hotshots remain upbeat and vowed to give their all to live to fight another day.
“Going down 3-1 is really tough but I remain positive. Anything is still possible,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.
“We’ll just try to live another day. We’ll just try to find ways to win on Friday. To win the championship they need four wins. The series is not yet over,” he added.
In the last game Magnolia had its chances to win down the stretch but just could not capitalize on the opportunities given to it.
Ian Sangalang led the Hotshots with 22 points followed by Rome Dela Rosa with 15 and Mark Barroca with 14 points.
In the event San Miguel closes out the Philippine Cup finals series tonight, it wins its 25th PBA title all time and eighth All- Filipino crown, the last four coming in successive years since 2015.