QUEZON CITY, Metro Manila — San Miguel Beer showed why they are tagged as the team to beat in the country’s premier professional league with its vaunted firepower as it outclassed defending champion Talk ‘n’ Text Tropang Giga in Game 6, forging in the process a winner-take-all scenario in their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup finals best-of-seven series.

SMB simply refused to buckle down as they orchestrated a scoring drought for the gritty Tropang Giga, before wrapping the game with a 114-96 decision that all but set the stage for a you-or-me Game 7 matchup for the All-Filipino championship crown.

The Beermen successfully stopped what could have been a TNT celebration at the Big Dome’s floor on Friday night, tying the best-of-seven series to 3-3 behind the hot outside sniping of its shooting guards Marcio Lassiter, who went 6-for-7 from the three-point area to finish with 22 points.

Simon Enciso also had a big day as he drilled in six treys for 20 points.
Teammate Christian Jaymar ‘CJ’ Perez also posted 20 markers for San Miguel, which defused the defending champion’s repeated tries for a rally with 16 triples.

TNT fans blamed Tropang Giga’s debacle to the inability of veteran guard Jayson Castro and Glenn Khonbuntin to enter the game due to injuries.

SMB started off hot with Perez sparking an early spurt to establish a daunting lead despite big man June Mar Fajardo getting two early fouls that kept him on the bench for several minutes.

In the first half, the Beermen rained down treys, hitting 11-of-18 from the three-point area with Enciso nailing five of his six attempts from the outside.

The scores:

San Miguel Beer (114)

Lassiter 22, Perez 20, Enciso 20, Tuatara 15, Cruz 11, Fajardo 10, Baronial 6, Manuel 5, Ross 3, Pasqual 2, Canute 0, Herndon 0, Samar 0, Faun do 0.

Talk ‘n’ Text (96)

Pogo 31, Tung cab 12, Rosario 10, Montalba 8, K.Williams 8, Marcelo 5, Banal 3, Cruz 3, M.Williams 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Reyes 0.

Quarterscores: 40-24, 63-50, 92-68, 114-96.