San Miguel defeated Barangay Ginebra with 92-90 points to win game one in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

After being trailing by five, at 90-85, with just 2:37 remaining in the final quarter, Ginebra tied the game at 90 thanks to an uncontested three-point play from Christian Standhardinger and a basket by Tony Bishop. Following a timeout Standhardinger fell foul to the ball to June Mar Fajardo which brought the player to the line, where the two players split their freebies.

Standhardinger tried to make an attempt at a basket, but failed his shot. Then Chris Ross grabbed the rebound but was snubbed by Maverick Ahanmisi. Ginebra asked for time since Ross failed to make his first free throw, before making another, after which Fajardo was able to grab the ball.

Bishop was later penalized for a foul by Fajardo who made only one of the two free throws, but Scottie Thompson caught the ball.

Ginebra was in a position to win or tie the game, but a mistake by Standhardinger ended the game to the crowd favorite.

CJ Perez scored conference-leading 26 points, and import Bennie Boatwright scored 22 points and 12 boards and five assists, as the Beermen were the first team to win this best-of-five match.

Standhardinger scored the most points with 21 and 11rebounds while Bishop scored 20 points as well as 11 boards to Ginebra.

The second game of this series is scheduled to take place on Friday, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Scores:

San Miguel 92 – Perez 26, Boatwright 23, Fajardo 18, Trollano 10, Lassiter 7, Cruz 6, Teng 2, Ross 0, Enciso 0, Tautuaa 0.

Ginebra 90 – Standhardinger 21, Bishop 20, Thompson 15, Malonzo 11, Pringle 9, Ahanmisi 6, J.Aguilar 6, Tenorio 0, Pessumal 0.

Quarters: 28-20, 47-47, 73-73, 92-90.