Starters score 89 as Beermen bury TNT late for semis berth

The San Miguel Beermen are marching on to the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals after defeating TNT Katropa, 106-102 on Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

San Miguel’s starting five proved to be too much, scoring 89 of the team’s 106 points. Renaldo Balkman led the team with 25 points, but Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo were also effective with 21 and 19 points, respectively. Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross also combined for 24 more markers.

TNT led for most of the first three quarters, before the Beermen went on a decisive 11-2 run to close out the third period and grab an 80-77 advantage.

Come the fourth, San Miguel went on to bury TNT in an eight-point hole midway through the period, but Terrence Romeo and Anthony Semerad anchored TNT’s last run to cut the lead to one, 96-95.

Jayson Castro made it interesting, hitting a three to tie the game with 2:06 to go, but the Beermen proved to be too steady on the line, hitting all of their eight attempts from the stripe to secure the victory.

Romeo was stellar off the bench for TNT, hitting 28 points with eight assists in 34 minutes on the floor. Josh Smith paced the starters with 21, while Anthony Semerad and Troy Rosario scored 19 and 11 points, respectively.  Castro, however, was limited to just seven points off a 2 of 9 clip. — Renee Fopalan/RSJ, GMA News