Dennis Miranda of San Miguel, center, fights for ball possesion against Purefoods' Kerby Raymundo and Raffy Reavis during Game 3 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals Sunday.

Who says a powerhouse team like San Miguel can’t play defense?

The Beermen shackled the Purefoods Giants in Game 3 of their KFC-PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, 88-76, to go up, 2-1, in the best-of-seven series.

So daunting was San Miguel on the defensive end Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum that it forced the Giants to a paltry 36 percent field goal shooting, including a horrible 2-of-23 attempts from the three-point region.

Only KG Canaleta accounted for the two three-pointers of the Giants, with the rest going scoreless from downtown, from James Yap (0-of-6), Paul Artadi (0-for-5) to Kerby Raymundo and Roger Yap (0-for-3).

“We went back to basics. Bumalik kami sa depensa na nagpapanalo sa amin sa elimination round," said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen.

“We’re more committed on defense in this game than the last time," added the soft-spoken mentor whose Beermen were blasted by the Giants in Game 2, 103-84.

Offensively, Dondon Hontiveros and Jay Washington took care of business for the Beermen, each finishing with 15 apiece, while support came from Arwind Santos (13), Mike Cortez (10) and Jonas Villanueva (10).

The Beermen led by as many as 17, 61-44, midway in the third period, before holding back a late Purefoods charge as Villanueva and Cortez each had eight in the closing quarter.

James Yap led the Giants with 14 along with Canaleta while Raymundo and Roger Yap each had 11. Rafi Reavies, who had 20 points in Game 2, was held down to only eight this time.

“One glaring stats for today’s game was our inability to score. That’s basically the story of the game," admitted Purefoods mentor Ryan Gregorio as his Giants were limited to just 12 points in the first 12 minutes, and only 34 at the break.

The scores:

San Miguel 88 - Hontiveros 15, Washington 15, Santos 13, Villanueva 10, Cortez 10, Pena 9, Pennisi 8, Miranda 4, Ildefonso 4, Racela 0, Seigle 0..

Purefoods 76 - Yap J. 14, Canaleta 14, Raymundo 11, Yap R. 11, Reavis 8, Maierhofer 6, Simon 4, Allado 4, Artadi 2, Pingris 2, Timberlake 0, Salvador 0.

Quarterscores: 24-12, 40-34, 67-55, 88-76

Source: GMANews.TV