MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone took responsibility for his team's listless performance against San Miguel Beer in Game 4 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series, which saw the Beerman win in dominant fashion.

Brimming with confidence after a 95-87 win in Game 3 last Tuesday, Ginebra seized an early 10-5 lead, only to succumb to turnovers that allowed San Miguel to pull away. The Beermen led 32-22 at the end of the first quarter, and it only snowballed from there.

San Miguel won 102-81 to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-7 series and move to the brink of a fourth straight all-Filipino finals appearance.

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"They just took it to us," Cone said in a brief chat with reporters after the game.

Cone said the game featured "brilliant coaching" by San Miguel's Leo Austria, who unleashed a zone defense that appeared to shock Ginebra.

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"On the other hand, it was terrible coaching by me. I was just totally outcoached and outclassed today," Cone said.

"Tough one to swallow especially since we played so hard and so well last game. But they came out and we didn’t figure out their zone early. We gave that zone life and never got it going.

"Defensively, they attacked us really well and shot the ball well. Everything just kind of mushroomed today.

"But it really comes down to brilliant adjustments by coach Leo that we weren’t just prepared for. We should’ve been but we weren’t. And that’s on me."

Cone said his squad has no choice but to move on from the loss, especially as they are going to be in a do-or-die situation moving forward. The multi-titled mentor opted not to say more after that, closing with: "I don’t want to say anything more. I might say some stuff I’m not supposed to say."

But Ginebra's veteran floor general stressed that it will be crucial for his players to draw on their famed "never say die" spirit.

"We're not going to quit nang ganoon ganoon lang," said Tenorio, who scored 20 points in the game.

"We just have to really be focused on everything that we do, like every little thing na adjustment namin, kailangan namin na sobrang pulido kasi we cannot afford to make mistakes especially against San Miguel."

Game 5 of the best-of-7 series is on Saturday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)