PBA: SMB Banks on Insane 3rd-Quarter Run to Even Semis Series With GSM

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The San Miguel Beermen leaned on a massive third-quarter turnaround to frustrate the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, 107-82, and equalized their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series to 2-2, on July 2, 2025, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

After playing catch-up for most of the first half, San Miguel flipped the switch at the start of the third quarter and hosted a demoralizing 17-0 scoring run that changed the complexion of the whole Game 4 duel.

The Beermen still trailed by a deuce, 56-58, at the 9:28 mark of the third. A CJ Perez three-pointer kicked off their momentum-boosting run that put San Miguel back in the driver’s seat, 59-58.

Everything that happened in the next four minutes passed by like a blur for the Gin Kings, as the Beermen held them scoreless while finding the net with their fluid offensive sets.

Credit to the San Miguel defense as they finally adjusted to Ginebra’s pick-and-roll attack that hurt them at the paint in the first two quarters.

Instead of sagging off the screen, June Mar Fajardo and the rest of the San Miguel frontcourt personnel went up to harass the ball handler, resulting in two clutch steals that comprised four points of their 17 total markers.

Despite playing through a slight tear in his calf, Fajardo still looked composed and delivered sweet dimes whenever he was doubled at the post.

Ginebra called for an emergency timeout to address their defensive lapses, but San Miguel shrugged off any adjustments after dropping the hammer with a 7-0 run courtesy of a Juami Tiongson trey and back-to-back paint baskets from Rodney Brondial.

Unfortunately for the Gin Kings, they were unable to replicate their come-from-behind win in Game 1, where they also went down by as much as 16 points.

Fatigue started to set in at the start of the fourth, as Ginebra just failed to keep up with the high-octane San Miguel attack.

“It’s very obvious that the energy of the team was really high. We’re able to match their energy and a lot of our perimeter shooting went in,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria after the win.

Leading the way for the lethal Beermen barrage was Perez, who top-scored San Miguel with 19 points alongside seven assists and five rebounds.

Tiongson chipped in 14 markers, but the unsung hero of the game was still the injured Fajardo, who capped off the win with a double-double outing of 12 points and 19 rebounds.

Fajardo was crucial to San Miguel’s 17-0 run, where he ran most of the offensive sets from the post, locating the open man at the dunker’s spot and his shooters at the wings.

On the other hand, Ginebra was paced by the duo of Troy Rosario and Jamie Malonzo, with 14 and 12 points, respectively.