Hot-shooting Beermen force winner-take-all Game 7

San Miguel leaned on the fiery shooting of Marcio Lassiter and Simon Enciso to take down TNT in Game 6, 114-96, and force a winner-take-all match in the PBA Season 47 Philippine Cup Finals, Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Lassiter paced the scoring parade for the Beermen with 22 highlighted by 6-of-7 sniping from beyond the arc while Enciso dropped 20 with 18 coming from long distance as the flagship team of the SMC group rebounded from back-to-back defeats to push the best-of-seven championship series to the limit.

“That’s what I’ve been waiting for: For everybody to click,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria during the post-game press conference.

“After this game, sixth game na ito, alam na namin kung saan kami pupunta. Na, we cannot rely on any individual. It could be a team effort, and that’s what happened tonight,” he added.

CJ Perez also scored in the 20s as the 2-time PBA scoring champion contributed 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and a perfect 3-of-3 from the 3-point country.

Mo Tautuaa added 15 markers and 8 boards while June Mar Fajardo once again finished with a double-double as the newly crowned Best Player of the Conference notched 10 points and 12 rebounds to go with 5 assists and a block.

The Tropang Giga, who missed the services of Jayson Castro and Glenn Khobuntin due to injuries, were led by RR Pogoy who fired a game-high 31 points. Mikey Williams shot 1-of-13 from the field, 0-of-8 from long distance, and finished with a measly 2 points.

Game 7 is set on Sunday, September 4, 6:00pm at the same venue.

The scores:

San Miguel 114 – Lassiter 22, Enciso 20, Perez 20, Tautuaa 15, Cruz 11, Fajardo 10, Brondial 6, Manuel 5, Ross 3, Pessumal 2, Canete 0, Herndon 0, Zamar 0, Faundo 0.

TNT 96 – Pogoy 31, Tungcab 12, Rosario 10, Montalbo 8, K. Williams 8, Erram 7, Alejandro 7, Marcelo 5, Cruz 3, Banal 3, M. Williams 2, Reyes 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.

Quarterscores: 40-24, 63-50, 92-68, 114-96.

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