MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The San Miguel Beermen shrugged off a late comeback scare by the Magnolia Hotshots to inch closer to history with an 84-80 win in Game 4 of the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday, April 4. 

San Miguel clinched a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 bout and moved within one win from being the first team in PBA history to hoist the All-Filipino plum for 4 consecutive years. 

Alex Cabagnot played his best game of the series by dropping 27 points for the Beermen, who have now won 3 straight after losing Game 1. 

June Mar Fajardo, who won a record 6th Best Player of the Conference award earlier, was a steady force down low with 16 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks while Marcio Lassiter fired 18 points, highlighted by a triple that put San Miguel up 80-74 with less than 3 minutes left. 

The Hotshots trimmed that deficit to just two points off 5 straight Ian Sangalang points, 80-82, and had the chance to equalize after Arwind Santos missed an open shot from the top of the key with 9 seconds remaining.

However, Magnolia could not complete the comeback as Mark Barroca turned the ball over, leading to Paul Lee fouling Santos, who coolly sank his freebies to make it a two-possession game. 

Santos finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks and Chris Ross added 8 rebounds and 7 assists in the win.

“They were able to limit us on offense. But these players have the heart of champions, they know how to lose, they know how to win, how to become winners,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria about the crucial victory. 

Sangalang paced the Hotshots with 22 points, 9 coming in the final quarter alone, to go with 11 rebounds while Rome dela Rosa added 15 points and 9 boards in the loss.

Game 5 is on Friday, April 6, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Scores:

San Miguel (84): Cabagnot 27, Lassiter 18, Fajardo 16, Santos 13, Ganuelas-Rosser 5, Ross 4, Espinas 1, Heruela 0, Pessumal 0

Magnolia (80): Sangalang 22, Dela Rosa 15, Barroca 14, Lee 9, Reavis 6, Simon 5, Jalalon 4, Ramos 3, Pascual 2, Gamalinda 0

Quarter scores: 14-20; 45-46; 69-64; 84-80

– Rappler.com