Beermen rout Gin Kings anew, go up 2-1

MANILA, Philippines — It was a neck and neck affair for San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra in Game Three of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Big Dome.

At least for the first two quarters, that is.

The Beermen carved out another blowout of the Gin Kings, 132-94, on Wednesday night to capture a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-seven saga. 

“I'm not expecting this to happen, ano. Because I think it's kinda weird. First game, tinambakan kami, second game nakabawi kami, tambak. And this is another blowout, so this is a championship game. We're expecting a close fight," said Beermen coach Leo Austria. 

“But I have to give credit to these players of mine, because I can see it from them na they want really to win. And we started the game a little bit slow, but we picked up in the second half, especially in the third quarter. And everybody was so focused on our game plan,” Austria added.  "

This time, it was Chris Ross who had a breakout game. He scattered 23 points to pace all San Miguel’s locals. He had four points in the series opener, and none in the game before Wednesday night. 

Austria said Ross and his teammates were fired up after seeing the latter sustained a gash going into the halftime break.

Christian Standhardinger only had 12, but his presence was most felt in the third frame, where the defending conference champions caught fire.

Import Renaldo Balkman had a team-best 28 points to go with his 11 rebounds, five assits, three blocks, and two steals.

“Our shooters kept on hitting (their shots). I told them in the first few minutes (after the halftime break) na no let-up, and that’s what happened,” Austria added.

Barangay Ginebra relied on the services of reinforcement Justin Brownlee, who finished with 32 points. 

Interestingly, only Mark Caguioa breached the 10-point mark among the locals — a player who many regard as way past his prime. He finished with 12 points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal.

The Beermen eclipsed Ginebra’s rout of them in Game One. The defending conference champions absorbed a royal beatdown that saw the lead swell by as many as 39 points. In Game Three, they decimated their foes by 40.

According to the league's stats honcho Fidel Mangonon III, San Miguel matched the biggest winning margin in Finals history. The Alaska franchise pulled it off first in the 1998 All-Filipino Cup title series. The Aces was then mentored by Tim Cone.

The Scores:

San Miguel (132): Balkman 28, Ross 23, Fajardo 22, Lassiter 12, Standhardinger 12, Santos 11, Cabagnot 9, Nabong 6, Pessumal 5, Heruela 4, Lanete 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, de Ocampo 0, Agovida 0, Vigil 0

Ginebra (94): Brownlee 32, Caguioa 12, Slaughter 9, Devance 7, Mercado 7, Tenorio 5, Chan 5, Mariano 5, Ferrer 5, Aguilar 4, Thompson 3, Cruz 0, Caperal 0, Manuel 0 

Quarter scores: 30-27, 53-51, 92-72, 132-94.