NOT just yet.
Just when it seemed that San Miguel Beer’s campaign was about to end, it suddenly flexed its championship muscles to live for another day, pulling off a 110-104 come-from-behind overtime victory over Alaska in Game 4 of their best-of-seven finals series in the 2015-16 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Marcio Lassiter, Gabby Espinas and Chris Ross came up huge for the Beermen, producing on both ends of the floor to make sure SMB remained alive.
Lassiter scored a game-high 26 points, while Espinas was a monster down low, tallying a double-double of 21 points and 14 points before fouling out, while Ross was all over the place as he nearly had a triple-double with his 11 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
The San Miguel win prevented a sweep by Alaska as the series will go on with the Aces still very much in control even with a reduced 3-1 lead.
‘’We just had to win,’’ said Ross, whose defensive effort also boosted San Miguel in the crucial stretches. ‘’We’re still alive and we’ll keep fighting. It’s not yet over.’’
Game 5 will be on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with Alaska once again having a chance to close it out and clinch the championship.
After Vic Manuel scored four quick points to start the extension to give Alaska a 102-98 edge, San Miguel responded emphatically.
Led by Ross, San Miguel suddenly erupted with a blistering 12-0 blast to take the exciting game away in the closing minutes. Ross scored that killer run’s first four points as he jumpstarted the finishing kick.
Alaska wasn’t able to recover from there.
Cyrus Baguio was the one responsible sending the game into an extra session as he calmly drained a wide-open triple at the buzzer in regulation to even the count at 98-all.
In scintillating finish, the defending champion Beermen dug deep in the final three minutes to produce one of the most memorable, season-saving runs in the league’s finals history.
Ahead by 93-82, with only 3:31 left after Jvee Casio’s triple, Alaska looked poised to sweep San Miguel and grab the championship.