Beermen repulse Tropang 5G, near title repeat

Defending champion San Miguel Beer overhauled a 16-point deficit to beat TNT, 96-82, in Game 5 for a 3-2 lead in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals Friday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.

Rodney Brondial played the unlikely hero in the crucial junction of the best-of-seven series, dropping a double-double of personal conference-best 17 points in an efficient 6-of-8 field goal shooting while grabbing 15 rebounds to go with two blocks and an assist in almost 34 minutes of action.

Scoreless in the opening period where San Miguel got buried early, the veteran forward scored 12 in the second and third quarters in the team’s impressive 34-point turnaround to build an 18-point gap.

Brondial delivered a dagger three – all while barely making it to their side of the court due to cramps – to give the Beermen a 90-76 advantage in the last 4:19 of the game and zap the fight out of the Tropang 5G.

“We just wanted to win because it’s hard to go down, 3-2, in this series, especially this is the championship,” Brondial said after San Miguel bounced back from an 87-110 loss in Game 4.

“Our blowout loss last game served as motivation. We just wanted to bounce back.”

The Beermen can wrap the series on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Six other San Miguel players scored in double figures with June Mar Fajardo, who hurt his knee with 6:28 left in the third period, posting 14 points and 11 rebounds. Don Trollano added 14 markers, Kris Rosales had 12, Mo Tautuaa and Marcio Lassiter submitted 11 each while CJ Perez had 10.

The Beermen unleashed a 26-4 blitz bridging from the last three minutes of the second quarter up to the 5:48 mark of the third canto to turn a 37-46 deficit to a 63-50 advantage.

San Miguel built its biggest cushion at 77-59 on a pair of free throws by Jericho Cruz with under a minute left in the third. The Beermen outscored TNT, 30-13, in the third quarter.       

TNT, fresh of a series equalizer last Wednesday, immediately pounced to a 23-7 lead. The Tropang 5G were still up, 46-37, with 3:07 left when San Miguel uncorked a deadly run to turn the tide.

Calvin Oftana finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for TNT, which had no fastbreak points and allowed the Beermen to score 46 points in the paint.

Jordan Heading had 13 markers, Henry Galinato added 11 while Rey Nambatac scored a quiet 10 marker for the Tropang 5G, who felt the pinch of playing sans top guard RR Pogoy due to a hamstring injury.