Bay Area def San Miguel, 94-92 [SF Game 4 | Season 47 Comm’s Cup | Dec. 21, 2022]

San Miguel got a stay of execution with a superlative effort against Bay Area in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup’s semifinal duel just last Sunday.

The Beermen now brace for the much tougher task of at least prolonging their conference anew when they square off with the equally determined Dragons Wednesday at the MOA Area.

“As long as we play hard, we play as a team both on offense and defense, defined ang roles ng mga players… we follow the gameplan, I think we’ll have a good chance of beating them (again),” was how SMB coach Leo Austria anticipates the match to be.

The nine-time champion coach spoke after his side pulled off a 98-96 thriller over Bay Area to foil the latter’s bid of a three-game sweep in the best-of-five series and whittle their deficit in the duel to 1-2.

June Mar Fajardo also put it plainly. “Do-or-die na ito para sa amin, sa kanila naman siyempre gusto na nilang i-close ‘yung series,” the Beermen’s prized center pointed out.

“So kung sino na lang susunod sa gameplan and then kung sino ‘yung (mas) gustong manalo iyon ‘yung mananalo sa Game 4,” added Fajardo. “Kami siyempre gusto naming manalo so ibibigay namin ‘yung best namin sa Game 4.”

Both Austria and Fajardo admitted there are still aspects in the Beermen’s game which need more fine-tuning, but the willingness to put in the work remains for their team which also has the country’s pride in mind.