SWEET sweep. Sweet revenge. Sweet return to the finals.
With tremendous resolve, San Miguel Beer accomplished all these in a 94-91 drubbing of Barangay Ginebra to win their PBA Commissioner's Cup Final Four face-off at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Sunday.
Bennie Boatwright and his teammates willed themselves to victory, beating Ginebra in a fierce battle and thus ending the Gin Kings' reign in this tourney they won in dramatic fashion last year versus tough foreign guest team Bay Area Dragons.
It was a sweet sweep and sweet revenge for the Beermen versus the very rival that also crushed them, 3-0, in their semis showdown in the last Governors Cup.
Coach Jorge Gallent and his chargers applied the broom on coach Tim Cone and his Gin Kings following earlier triumphs in Game One, 92-90, and in Game Two, 106-96.
Sponsored content: Making it three in a row with a gritty effort led by Boatwright, June Mar Fajardo and Jericho Cruz, the Beermen advanced to the finals, awaiting the winner in the Magnolia-Phoenix showdown.
As the league's winningest ball club, San Miguel has had its title runs in the Commissioner's Cup, with the last in 2019 with import Chris McCullough.
But it has been a good four years ago. And it also feels a long time since the Beermen ruled last year's Philippine Cup.
They're raring to win a championship again, if ever their first under Gallent.
They got a shot at it in stamping their class as the higher seeds versus a Ginebra side which was a shadow of its old form minus champion import Justin Brownlee.
Sponsored content: For the clincher, Boatwright was good for 26 points and 13 rebounds, with Fajardo having his own double-double with 11 markers and 10 boards and Cruz making his presence felt on off-the-bench role with 17 points spiked by two triples.
Marcio Lassiter kept the first of his Game 2 sizzler and fired away 14 markers in this game while CJ Perez chipped in 11 plus nine boards.
From a tight see-saw battle, the Beermen seized control on a 15-10 tear to start the fourth, and they gallantly hang tough to the end to write finis on Ginebra's bid. (SB)
