MAGNOLIA import Tyler Bey lost possession twice after collaring rebounds midway through the third quarter. In contrast, reigning seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer boomed in two straight three-pointers late in the game last night.
Now the Big Dance duel, initially predicted to be a dogfight is fast turning out to be a walk in the park.
Flexing their might anew, the Beermen ripped the Hotshots 109-85 in Game 2 of their best-of-7 finals showdown for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
There were high fives, hugs, and beaming faces among SMB players at the buzzer, but Beermen coach Jorge Gallent simply downplayed his team’s emphatic triumph that came on the heels of a similarly runaway 103-95 win the finals opener three nights back.
“Of course, I’m happy because we won by 24 points. We just played as a team, as a unit, everybody works hard in practice and everybody works as a team inside the court, so we just have to polish a little of our tendency to relax,” Gallent said. “We relaxed for about two to three minutes but that’s basketball.
“Players relax, people relax but when you call a timeout and you tell them about it, they respond right away,” he added.
SMB reinforcement Bennie Boatwright shone with a double-double of 34 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, while CJ Perez backed him up with 20 markers, six boards, and four dimes.
Fajardo also had 19 and 14, while Marcio Lassiter and Jericho Cruz combined for 21 points as the Beermen zoomed to a 2-0 lead in the race-to-4 series.
SMB will try to push Magnolia on the brink in the third tiff set for Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen took a 54-41 advantage at the half and stretched it to as much as 72-44 on a Lassiter jumper at the 5:17 mark of the third.
Gallent’s charges still enjoyed a 79-58 spread going into the payoff period and were hardly threatened from there.
Bey paced the Hotshots with 22 points and 16 caroms, while Mark Barroca had 11 markers.
Reserve big man Russell Escoto also got 10 points and three rebounds for Magnolia.
