MANILA — The San Miguel Beermen lived to fight another day, frustrating the TNT KaTropa Texters, 104-88, in Game 6 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series Saturday night. SMB thus tied the series at 3-3, forcing a deciding Game 7 Monday night. Three-time MVP June Mar Fajardo exploded for 23 points and 21 boards plus four blocks to post his 11th career 20-20 game, the most in PBA history among locals. Four other Beermen came up with impressive numbers with Arwind Santos scoring 21 points. Alex Cabagnot posted 19 markers, 10 of them in the final canto, on top of seven assists, four boards, and two steals. Chris Ross added 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, one steal, and one block. Marcio Lassiter had a rare triple-7: seven points, seven boards, and seven assists. SMB bench players RR Garcia (9 points) and Gabby Espinas (5 points) also played significant minutes as they led the back-to-back defending champions in a mighty third quarter uprising where they overhauled a 12-point deficit with a 13-0 run to take a one-point lead entering the fourth quarter. The Beermen kept pouring on the points in the final period where they outscored the Texters, 34-19. The Texters sorely missed the services of forward Troy Rosario who got married with his college sweetheart on the same day. Jayson Castro led the Texters with 19 points, five assists, and three steals in 25 minutes. Rookie Roger Pogoy and Larry Fonacier added 12 markers apiece. Game Sunday: Star Hotshots vs. Barangay Ginebra Kings (Game 6 of best-of-7 semifinals; Star leads 3-2).
