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PBA: San Miguel routs TNT to win Commissioner’s Cup title

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ABS-CBN News

Early in tournament, San Miguel Beer faced the unlikely prospect of taking an early vacation.Weeks later, with a new reinforcement and a local cast playing to its super-team billing, the Beermen are back in familiar territory and looking ahead to make history.Chris McCullough scored 35 points and got sufficient help from San Miguel&#x27;s local Twin Towers, as the Beermen defeated TNT 102-90 to win the 2019 PBA Commissioner&#x27;s Cup title at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.June Mar Fajardo finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Christian Standhardinger came off the bench to contribute 18 points and help slow down TNT&#x27;s Terrence Jones, performances that keyed San Miguel&#x27;s 4-2 series win.&quot;We just worked hard in the gym, we worked hard at the practice. We were well focused,&quot; McCullough said.&quot;It feels good to be a champion, it was a great rivalry between TNT and SMB and thank you for bringing me here.&quot;Terrence Romeo, named finals MVP for the first time in his career, added 10 points and 7 assists for the Beermen, who won a record-extending 27th league championship.That&#x27;s 2 titles down and 1 to go before a Grand Slam coronation.The season-ending Governors&#x27; Cup begins on September 20.&quot;Allow me to congratulate (TNT) coach Bong Ravena for the job well done. They bring out the best in our guys,&quot; said Beermen head coach Leo Austria, who won his 8th league title, tying Chot Reyes for 5th in the all-time list.&quot;We never thought that we will be in the finals at the start of the conference, but we&#x27;re so fortunate and we were able to win the championship.&quot;At one point in the Commissioner&#x27;s Cup, San Miguel was on the brink of elimination, but the team tapped McCullough as a replacement to champion reinforcement Chris Rhodes and that turned things around for Austria and co.From a 2-5 record, the Beermen won 3 of their last 4 elimination-round games to settle for the No. 7 seed. They went on to beat NorthPort twice in the quarterfinals and oust Rain Or Shine in 4 games in the semifinals to advance to the title series.But the bumpy ride continued for San Miguel when a left-knee injury sidelined Marcio Lassiter for the rest of the series, a handicap the Beermen couldn&#x27;t afford against the top-seeded TNT.After losing Game 1, thanks to a dominant performance by Jones, San Miguel equalized with a double-overtime win in Game 2, a classic encounter that started off a series of close games with exciting finishes.Game 6 didn&#x27;t have the same thrilling ending, though, as TNT couldn&#x27;t match San Miguel&#x27;s firepower and never got into a shooting rhythm like in previous games.TNT scored a series-low 35 points in the first half, and saw San Miguel go up by as many as 19 points.Jones tallied 41 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks, but his teammates, whose outside shooting was instrumental in TNT&#x27;s run to the finals, went cold in Game 6.Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario combined to shoot 14 of 47 from the field (29.8%), and 3 of 20 from 3-point distance (15%).For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="https://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.

San Miguel Beer has defeated TNT 102-90 to win the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup title at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.

San Miguel Beer has defeated TNT 102-90 to win the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup title at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.