Beermen bury Aces, barge into finals

The San Miguel Beermen relied on June Mar Fajardo and Alex Cabagnot to defeat the Alaska Aces, 104-99, and earn the first finals berth in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Fajardo led San Miguel with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Renaldo Balkman added 23 with 16 rebounds.

Alex Cabagnot came off the bench for 13 points, nine assists, and five boards, as Chris Ross tallied 17 as a starter.

The Aces were down by only four points with 2:51 remaining after a Simon Enciso trey. But a 6-2 run by the Beermen stretched the lead to eight with 34 ticks to go.

Off a timeout, the Aces needed three offensive boards to get a Vic Manuel putback, while Cabagnot made it interesting at the other end after missing two cruicial charities with 24 seconds left.

Alaska, however, failed to capitalize, losing precious seconds on the clock before Manuel converted anew, trimming the deficit to just four with 10 seconds remaining.

Simon Enciso was quick to foul and stop the clock, but Marcio Lassiter sank two charities to put the game away.

Diamon Simpson paced Alaksa with 24 points and 21 rebounds, while Vic Manuel was effective off the bench with 20 points. Simon Enciso and Jayvee Casio, meanwhile, scored 19 and 15 points, respectively.

The Beermen now await the winner of the Ginebra-Rain or Shine best-of-five semifinals series, where the Gin Kings are ahead, 2-1. — DVM, GMA News