MANILA — San Miguel Beermen pulled away in the last two minutes to eliminate TNT KaTropa from the PBA Commissioner’s Cup contention with a 106-102 win in Game 2 of their best-of-three quarterfinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Wednesday night.
The Beermen, which went on an 8-2 run anchored on crucial free throws from Renaldo Balkman, Junemar Fajardo, and Chris Ross to put away the KaTropa, went ice cold after tying the game for the final time at 98-all at the 2:06 mark of the match.
Balkman finished with 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and one steal for SMB, which will take on Alaska Aces in the best-of-five semifinals.
Alex Cabagnot added 21 points, six rebounds, six assists, and one steal, while Fajardo chipped in 19 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and four steals.
Ross also had his own double-double of 11 markers and 10 dimes with five boards and one swipe.
Terrence Romeo had his best game with TNT, making 28 points, three rebounds, eight assists, five steals, and one block, but his explosion went down the drain as for the second straight conference, a third-seeded team fell to the sixth-seeded team in the quarterfinals. (Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/PNA)
