Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The San Miguel Beermen live to fight another day after shellacking the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, 101-72, in Game 4 of their best-of-five semifinal series in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Marcio Lassiter sizzled for the Beermen with seven three pointers made on the way to 25 markers.
Alex Cabagnot, Elijah Millsap, June Mar Fajardo, and Arwin Santos all chipped in with double-digit scoring.
The Beermen took the game by the scruff of the neck early on in the contest, pushing on to a 48-22 lead in the second frame before entering the halftime break with a 55-29 advantage.
San Miguel refused to take their foot off the pedal, extending their lead even further to 69-37 in the third frame.
Ginebra could only reduce the deficit to 89-64 with 8:08 left in the payoff period, but were unable to muster up a rally of their own to overturn San Miguel.
Justin Brownlee and LA Tenorio were the only two Gin Kings to figure in double-figures with 28 and 17 points, respectively.
After the game, San Miguel coach Leo Austria was in awe of how his players performed.
“Hindi ko alam kung anong kinain nung team ko,” Austria said. “They know the situation and we have been there so many times in the past two seasons, they know how to lose, they know how to win.”
The do-or-die Game 5 will be played on October 4 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
