The San Miguel Beermen defeated the TNT Tropang Giga in the finals, 21 – 12, to claim the championship in Leg 5 of the PBA 3×3 Third Conference on Sunday at Robinsons Place in Antipolo.
Jeff Manday and Ken Bono combined for half of the Beermen’s output in defeating TNT and putting an end to the latter’s bid for a third straight leg title. As a result, the Beermen won their first leg title in this conference and a cash prize of P100,000.
San Miguel never looked back after Manday scored on a layup to break a 7 – 7 tie nearly halfway through the finals. Manday’s basket sparked a 9 – 2 run for the Beermen, who led 16 – 9 with 3:31 remaining on the clock.
The fiery San Miguel guard, who is coming off a hand injury suffered in the previous conference, finished with seven points and nine rebounds, Bono added six, and Wendell Comboy and Bambam Gamalinda added five and three points, respectively.
It was San Miguel’s first leg title since topping Leg 6 during the second conference, coached by Boyzie Zamar. Only Bono and Manday were members of the championship team.
San Miguel defeated Barangay Ginebra in the first round of the knockout stage, 21 – 15, and then defeated Cavitex in the semis, 21-20, to advance to the finals.
TNT, meanwhile, used a 17 point explosion from Vosotros in the quarterfinals to defeat Purefoods, 21 – 17, before dispatching Terrafirma, 21 – 15, in the semis to set up the match with San Miguel.
TNT’s runner-up finish earned the telecommunications company a P50,000 cash prize.
The TNT star almost single-handedly carried the team’s fight, finishing with nine points and five rebounds, while Samboy De Leon was the only other Tropang Giga to score, scoring three points.
Cavitex finished third, defeating Terrafirma 21-14 for the P30,000 prize money.
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