The San Miguel Beermen have proven time and again that they are capable of overcoming adversity.
Down by as much as 23 points against the hungry TNT KaTropa, the Beermen slowly climbed back into the contest and took command late in the fourth quarter en route to a 121-110 victory, Monday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
With the win, the Beermen are now one away from stepping back into the semifinals of the Commissioner's Cup, a step closer for an opportunity to defend the title they won last season.
The Beermen went on a 16-0 run from the midway mark of the final period to grab a 119-106 lead.
Renaldo Balkman was outstanding on his first PBA playoff game with 36 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. He more than enough support from the locals. With June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter getting 27 and 26 points respectively.
TNT, on the other hand, ran out of ammunition in the end game. After hitting eight triples in the first quarter, the Katropa only managed six makes the rest of the way. This problem was compounded when Joshua Smith fouled out of the ballgame in the fourth quarter, robbing TNT of their only post option and their best of slowing down Fajardo on the other side.
"TNT knew that even if we were down by a big margin, they still had to work hard because we were capable of coming back in the game," said SMB head coach Leo Austria. "But from our end, we have to be cautious in our next game because we cannot afford to have another poor start."
The KaTropa jumped the gun on the defending champions as they exploded from the three-point range in the opening quarter. TNT averaged just over 11 triples per game in the elimination round but they canned eight of their 13 attempts in the first quarter.
With Joshua Smith drawing most of the attention inside, KaTropa's other bigs were able to pick their spots and shoot from downtown with Anthony Semerad and Kelly Williams knocking down to each for a 40-21 start.
The Beermen decided to fight fire with fire in the second period as they unleashed Marcio Lassiter. The high-scoring guard did not score a single point in the opener but scattered 12 in the second.
Lassiter joined Renaldo Balkman and June Mar Fajardo and in double-digits at the end of the first half with 13 and 10, respectively. Only Williams scored in double-digits for TNT at the half with 11 but they had eight players scoring at least five points to hold a 62-48 halftime lead.
The Beermen made a move in the third quarter as they took full advantage of TNT's foul troubles. With Smith committing his fourth personal with still 7:53 remaining in the third period, the Beermen repeatedly went to Fajardo and Balkman down low.
SMB finally tied the count at 86-all but Terrence Romeo quickly took the lead back for the Katropa 88-86 heading into the final quarter of play.
It did not take long for the Beemen to taste the lead as Balkman made a couple of free throws with 7:08 left in the game for a 100-99 advantage, which was their first lead of the game.
Things turned sour for the Katropa as Smith fouled out of the ballgame with still 3:39 left as he nudged Fajardo on a rebound play with the Beermen enjoying a 110-106 lead.
THE SCORES
San Miguel 121 - Balkman 36, Fajardo 27, Lassiter 26, Santos 10, Ross 9, Cabagnot 6, Rosser 4, Nabong 3, Heruela 0, Vigil 0.
TNT 110 - Smith 17, Pogoy 17, Williams 16, Romeo 13, Semerad 11, Castro 10, Trollano 10, Rosario 9, Cruz 5, Taha 2, Garcia 0, Paredes 0, Golla 0, Carey 0, Reyes 0, Tamsi 0.
Quarterscores: 21-40, 48-62, 86-88, 121-110.
EXTRA DRIBBLES
Christian Standhardinger was in uniform for the Beermen after missing some games as he recovers from a knee injury. However, he did not see action in the game.
The Beermen had a huge advantage in free-throws as they kept pounding the ball inside. SMB made 31 of 40 free throws while TNT only managed to make eight of 18 attempts with Smith going one for seven.
NEXT GAME
Game 2 on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum at 7 p.m.