A Dream Duel is set Between Beermen and Kings

An explosive best-of-five battle for a spot in the finals of the PBA Governor’s Cup will take place between the reigning Philippine Cup champion and the current Commissioner’s Cup ruler.

In last night’s quarterfinal opener at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, both seeded San Miguel Beer and twice-beaten Converge dominated San Miguel Beer, 121-105.

Barangay Ginebra, winner of the second conference, won by 31 points over sixth-ranked NLEX, 127-93, to keep its Governors’ Cup three-peat bid alive and secure the Final Four entanglements with SMB.

Defeating the FiberXers in the semifinals and repeating the result of their previous conference matchup, the Beermen put together a 37-24 third-quarter surge.

The SMB team advanced to the next round thanks to 40 points from Cameron Clark, including 16 on the telling breakaway. Clark also had 13 rebounds and three steals.

A spotless 9-of-9 shooting performance from Vic Manuel backed up Clark and top scorer CJ Perez (26 points) in the absence of June Mar Fajardo.

In spite of limited time, the Beermen succeeded in plotting against Tom Vodanovich, who just two days ago replaced Jamaal Franklin as the New Zealand Tall Blacks coach. It was a 39 for Vodanovich.

As for NLEX, which had import Wayne Selden out due to a foot sprain, Justin Brownlee turned in 31-13-6 and Christian Standhardinger and Jamie Malonzo each scored 20 in quickly eliminating Ginebra.