CJAY Perez drained a four-point shot and a three-pointer in the endgame to rescue San Miguel in the face of a TNT comeback, 95-89, on Sunday in the PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup Finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Game Three appeared to be slipping away from the Beermen's grasp as a 10-0 TNT run gave the Tropang 5G an 89-88 lead, but that was until Perez took over, hitting a stepback four-pointer over the slower Henry Galinato with 41.8 seconds left.
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For good measure, Perez followed it up with a three-pointer with 12.3 seconds left, sparking a wild celebration among the Beermen faithful and staking the team to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship series.
Perez’s heroics must've felt like a gut-punch to a TNT side which appeared on the verge of a victory after coming back from an early 17-point deficit.
“There’s a lot of guts from our players, especially Cjay,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria. “Knowing Cjay, gusto niyang manalo. Never ko siyang pinagbawalang tumira.”
Perez finished the game with 20 points, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter where he went 6-of-6 from the field, atoning for his performance in the Game Two win last Friday where he misfired before fouling out.
Don Trollano added 19 points, while June Mar Fajardo had 16 points, 27 rebounds, and three blocks for the Beermen, who led, 33-16, early in the first quarter.
TNT outscored San Miguel, 31-11, in the second quarter and took the lead at the half, 50-44. Calvin Oftana's 25 points included a three that got TNT closer, 86-84, which was followed by a Rey Nambatac three with 1:17 left that gave TNT the lead.
The win was within TNT’s grasp when SMB was called for a shotclock violation and was followed by a dunk by Henry Galinato with 50 seconds left for an 89-86 lead.
But it wasn’t to be.
The scores:
San Miguel 95 – Perez 20, Trollano 19, Fajardo 16, Tautuaa 14, Lassiter 10, Cruz 8, Brondial 4, Teng 4, Ross 0, Tiongson 0.
TNT 89 – Oftana 25, Heading 15, Ganuelas-Rosser 15, Nambatac 12, Galinato 6, Khobuntin 5, Erram 4, Pogoy 4, Enciso 3, Williams 0, Jalalon 0.
Quarters: 33-19; 44-50; 67-72; 95-89.
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