SIMON ENCISO nailed a three-pointer at crunch time as San Miguel Beer beat the Hong Kong Bay Area Dragons, 98-96, to avoid being swept in their best-of-five semifinal series in the
Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
The Beermen trailed 93-96 with 53 seconds remaining, but import Devon Scott completed tw free throws to make it 95-96 14 seconds later.
Enciso then buried the game-clinching triple as San Miguel Beer unleashed a solid defense, forcing Kobe Lam and Hayden Joel Blankley to miss their shots in the final 12 seconds.
“This is an indication that the Dragons are beatable,” returning Beermen coach Leo Austria said. “It’s huge, this confidence is huge.”
Scott finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while June Mar Fajardo added 21 points and 16 rebounds.
The 6-foot-2 Enciso had 16 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
“Our back’s against the wall so we really needed this win and everybody stepped up,” Fajardo said.
CJ Perez and Terrence Romeo contributed 17 and 13 points, respectively, for the Beermen, who will try to level the series in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Andrew Nicholson scored 34 points and hauled down 14 rebounds with two blocks for the visitors.
