Manila, July 18 -- San Miguel Beer turned to its defense in the endgame to survive a big scare from Terrafirma, 109-104, in the PBA Governors Cup at Ynares Center in Antipolo on Saturday.

Import George King led all scorers with 37 points and 14 rebounds, highlighted by his four straight points that shoved the Beermen ahead for good, 105-104, still 39.1 ticks left.

However, the steals pulled off by King and CJ Perez and the team's tough defense inside the final 48 seconds keyed SMB's 2-0 start and handed Terrafirma a third straight loss that dropped it to 1-3 overall in Group A.

"At the end of the day it was the defense that got us the win tonight," Peter Martin, standing in for indisposed head coach Leo Austria for the second straight ...