SAN Miguel stopped its two-game losing slide by beating league-leading Barangay Ginebra, 81-66, on Sunday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena and Cultural Center.
The Beermen finally picked up a win against one of the top teams in this bubble conference in the lackluster Gin Kings following a 15-0 run in the second quarter that set the tone for the five-time defending champions.
San Miguel never looked back despite a third-quarter rally by its sister team in the coast-to-coast victory that further complicated things in the race for the Top Four spots - and twice-to-beat advantage - in the quarterfinals.
The Beermen joined Alaska, Meralco, and Magnolia at fourth place in the eliminations on 6-4 win-loss cards heading to the final three days of the elimination round inside the Smart Giga Clark City bubble.

Ginebra saw a three-game win streak come to an end and fell to 7-3, although it remained in joint first place with TNT. The Gins can still capture the No. 1 seed with a win against lowly Terrafirma on Monday.
Mo Tautuaa scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Marcio Lassiter marked his return after missing the Beermen’s previous game against NLEX by making 12 points, most of yhem in a second-quarter breakaway.
“I think the players were motivated by our situation right now because our status is we have to win the last two games or else, we will be eliminated dahil there’s a logjam in the middle of the standings and the teams at the bottom are slowly catching up,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

Lassiter began that Beermen's pivotal run by stringing up eight straight points including back-to-back threes that put them ahead, 42-25, in the second quarter. Athree-point play by Alex Cabagnot made it 56-36 - the biggest lead in the game.
The Kings went on a 17-0 run thanks led by Scottie Thompson to close the gap, 56-53, but the Beermen responded with six straight points and Ginebra never threatened again.
Japeth Aguilar finished with 13 points while Scottie Thompson added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Gin Kings, who only got seven points from Stanley Pringle after he played sparingly in the second half.
LA Tenorio was scoreless after missing all seven shots.
The scores:
San Miguel 81 – Tautuaa 20, Lassiter 12, Cabagnot 11, Ross 11, Gamalinda 11, Pessumal 7, Santos 7, Zamar 2, Mamaril 0, Comboy 0, Escoto 0.
Barangay Ginebra 66 – J. Aguilar 13, Thompson 12, Mariano 11, Tolentino 8, Pringle 7, Caperal 7, Dillinger 2, Chan 2, Dela Cruz 2, R. Aguilar 2, Salado 0, Tenorio 0, Devance 0, Balanza 0.
Quarters: 27-22; 53-36; 64-56; 81-66.
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