The San Miguel Beermen took control from start to finish en route to a monster 116-90 win against the TNT Tropang Giga in Game 4 of their best-of-seven semifinals Sunday in the 2021 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinals at the DHVSU Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
The Beermen, with Mo Tautuaa delivering 25 points and nine rebounds, levelled their series with the Tropang Giga at 2-2.
Coach Leo Austria said the team took pains in minimizing their turnovers and errors, which was situation they were in when they lost Game 3, 98-115.
“In our last few games, we were caught up in situations, we did not have a good game. Now, we’re trying to minimize our turnovers,” said Austria.
Tautuaa started the Beermen’s game-long onslaught as he capped a 11-4 run in the first period, which gave the Beermen a 14-8 early spread.
Then, Tautuaa finished the quarter with 11 points after he led another rally that pushed the Beermen’s lead to 24-12, with 1:55 left in the first behind his two freebies.
Terrence Romeo added 17, including a triple in the 9:03 mark of the second quarter giving the Beermen a 20-point edge at 37-17, with 1:52 remaining.
Big man JuneMar Fajardo, who made his imposing presence felt in the second half, knocked in 13 points.
Fajardo’s rebound and layup with 6:17 left bloated the Beermen’s edge to 23, 73-40 in the third.
Later, Romeo’s inside play in the third widened the Beermen’s advantage to as much as 35, 85-53.
In the end, the Beermen finished the game with just 15 turnovers, compared to Game 3 when they had 24.
TNT got 15 points from Jayson Castro, while Glenn Khobutin added 11.
Tropang Giga still managed to cut down the Beermen’s big lead, with Ping Exciminiano’s layup pushing it down to 18, 80-98, with 5:16 to go. But the Beermen cruised the rest of the way.