Beermen outlast Road Warriors, seize first semis berth

Games Saturday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

3 p.m. – Mahindra vs Meralco

5:15 p.m. – TNT KaTropa vs Phoenix

MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion San Miguel Beer played a short nine-man rotation that proved tough enough to outlast NLEX in a fierce shootout, pulling off a 114-110 victory to secure the first berth in the PBA Governors Cup Final Four at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

Elijah Millsap stood his ground against the prolific Henry Walker, coming through with 39 points and 11 rebounds, and the other SMB starters had their own double-digit outputs as the Beermen sustained their hot closing romp in the elims and knocked the Road Warriors out of further contention in the season-ending tourney.

June Mar Fajardo came up with his own double-double performance with 17 points and 13 rebounds while Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos contributed at least 11 markers each for the Beermen who roared to a fourth straight PBA semis.

NLEX, meanwhile, remained in the hunt for an elusive first semis appearance in franchise history. The Road Warriors are now 0-6 in quarterfinal games.

Chris Ross, Gabby Espinas, Yancy de Ocampo and Ronald Tubid were the only four Beermen tapped in for relief job and they had key contributions as San Miguel advanced to the best-of-five semis versus the winner of the Barangay Ginebra-Alaska Milk quarters matchup.

Millsap, Fajardo, Cabagnot and Lassiter delivered the crucial baskets at the finish as the Beermen beat out the Walker and his teammates in a game marked by wild momentum swings.

It was a duel of runs won by the Beermen on a decisive 9-3 tear from a precarious 103-102 lead.

“I knew from the start that it won’t be easy as we always engage in a close game,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

“We had the same game in the elims. We were leading by 17 but they erased it and they even raced ahead,” Austria also said. “It’s a good lesson for us. We can’t win a championship if we don’t improve our defense.”

The Batang Pier put up a tough stand with Walker exploding for seven treys and a total of 45 points and the whole team firing away 14-of-35 three-pointers as against the Beermen’s 12-of-28.

Jonas Villanueva came out firing in the fourth and the Batang Pier completely wiped out a 46-63 deficit, surging ahead at 89-88.

The Batang Pier fought the Beermen in a high-scoring battle with Villanueva scoring 17 points, Garvo Lanete and Asi Taulava adding 13 each and Sean Anthony chipping in 11.

They hung on in the battle until Millsap canned in two charities to make it 114-110 with only 2.4 seconds to go.

NLEX hit the end of the road, becoming the fifth casualty in the tourney after Blackwater, Star, Globalport and Rain or Shine.

Playoff action moves over to the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo Saturday with top seed TNT KaTropa and fourth ranked Meralco taking their first try to eliminate Phoenix Petroleum and Mahindra, respectively.