Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The San Miguel Beermen have taken a 2-1 lead in their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Finals series against Barangay Ginebra after using a late run to claim Game 3, 99-88, on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Chris Ross paced San Miguel with 24 points, while JuneMar Fajardo came up big with 17 markers and 18 rebounds.
Ginebra once again tried to pull away in the first half, and nearly succeeded after extending their lead to 41-29 in the second frame.
But the Beermen were able to keep it close, outscoring their opponents 15-8 in the last six minutes of the first half to trim the deficit to 49-44 before the break.
Both teams went toe-to-toe in the second half, with neither side getting a firm grip of the lead up until halfway through the payoff period.
San Miguel took the game by the scruff of the neck when it mattered, staging a 17-2 rally to close out the final 5:02 of the game and seal the win.
The San Miguel victory was punctuated by a Ross trey with 10 ticks left on the clock, which led to a shouting match in the hallway leading to the dugouts after the match.
Both parties refused to comment on the incident after the game.
LA Tenorio led Ginebra in the losing effort with 16 points.
After the game, San Miguel head coach Leo Austria took time to praise Fajardo for his role in the victory.
“I thought we will lose again because they (Ginebra) came out really really strong,” Austria admitted. “We’re able to execute some plays, especially JuneMar. I think that’s the biggest difference, big factor because we are able to get the ball to JuneMar. ”
The San Miguel Beermen can take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series in Game 4 on Friday at the same venue.
