Purefoods ace gunner James Yap (center) is hammered by a San Miguel Beer double-team of Mike Cortez (left) and Danny Ildefonso (right) during Game 3 of their PBA semifinals duel last Sunday. (Photo by TONY PIONILLA)

Games on Wednesday (Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m. — San Miguel vs Purefoods
7:30 p.m. — Alaska vs Ginebra

San Miguel Beer coach Siot Tanquingcen had one simple instruction to his team prior to Game 3 of its semifinal series with Purefoods: Play defense.

The Beermen did not only play defense, they did it with the panache of a grizzled warrior that saw them score a vengeful 103-84 victory for a 2-1 lead in their Final Four series in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Like in its 88-76 triumph in the series opener last week when it limited Purefoods TJ to 41.9 percent shooting (31 of 74), San Miguel held its opponent to only 36.6 percent performance from the field (26 of 71).

“The main thing was the effort we put in, our commitment on defense,” said Tanquingcen, who is eyeing another title with SMB after helping the team win the Fiesta Cup last season.

“Not taking anything away from Purefoods, they’re a very good team, very talented. But we have to go back to our game. We can’t just come in, we have to go back on playing defense,” Tanquingcen, a former SMB playmaker, added.

SMB’s defense has silenced Purefoods’ main offensive weapon, James Yap, who averaged almost 22 points in the quarterfinals series versus Rain or Shine.

The 6-foot-2 Yap struggled from the perimeter and went 0 of 8 in Game 1, scoring all his eight points from the foul line. In Game 3, although he finished with 14, he was 5 of 15 from the field, including 0-of-6 from three-point territory.

Overall, SMB limited Purefoods to a miserable 2-of-23 threes in Game 3.

Dondon Hontiveros is so far the most consistent among the Beermen, averaging 15 points, while forward Arwind Santos has double-double average of 14 points and 11.3 rebounds in the series. Forward Jay Washington is also averaging 14 points.

In their two wins so far, San Miguel dominated the boards, 49-44 in Game 1 and 50-38 in Game 3.

Game 2 was a total reversal of what happened in Game 1 when the Giants dominated the rebounding battle, 51-44, and shot almost 50 percent (40 of 81) from the field.

Alaska Milk, on the other hand, took a 3-0 lead in its Final Four series with Barangay Ginebra with a thrilling 91-88 win in Game 3. They blew a 23-point lead in the fourth quarter (88-65) but found a way to beat the Kings.

The Aces will be eyeing not only the first Finals slot, but a first ever franshise sweep in a seven-game series, and only the fourth time in league history.