DEFENDING champion San Miguel Beer left a flabbergasted Blackwater five bewildered with a vicious windup–and just how good were the Beermen last night?
SMB did it with some of its key players like reigning seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez watching from the bench.
Propped up by a telling fourth quarter breakaway, the Beermen dismantled the Bossing 124-109 for their 10th straight win and moved within a victory of an eliminations sweep in the PBA Philippine Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Backup big man Rodney Brondial bulldozed his way inside the paint and scored for SMB off Blackwater star Troy Rosario that made it a 99-80 game early in the fourth canto.
Fajardo, sitting prettily on the sidelines, roared and raised his biceps to celebrate his teammate’s basket.
Beermen coach Jorge Gallent pointed out some aspects of his charges’ game early on that they tweaked that spelled the big difference on the same night the team officially retired Arwind Santos’ No. 29 jersey at halftime.
“We were thinking of our turnovers. We gave Blackwater a lot of opportunities to get transition points, so we just had to minimize our turnovers and minimize our force shots for us not to give easy transition points,” Gallent said. “Everybody’s hungry to beat us but we just have to play as a unit and play together. We will be okay.
“Like we did there in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. As I always tell our players, when the ball is moving, we’re a good team,” he added.
Do-it-all guard CJ Perez scattered a game-high 26 points laced with five rebounds and five assists while Don Trollano banged in six three-pointers and finished with 25 markers and two boards.
Fajardo had a double-double of 21 and 16, while Jericho Cruz, Terrence Romeo, and Marcio Lassiter added 14, 12, and 11 points, respectively, as the Beermen did an encore to a 120-103 rout of the NLEX Road Warriors four nights back and rose to 10-0.
SMB, already assured of the top seed and a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, can complete an elims sweep against Meralco this Saturday, May 4, in Batangas– something never done in the pro league since Talk N Text won all its nine games in the classification phase of the Commissioner’s Cup in 2014.
The loss, the Bossing’s seventh straight counting a 113-115 setback at the hands of the NorthPort Batang Pier last Saturday, sent them packing with a 3-7 slate.
The Beermen held a 60-53 buffer at the halfway mark and an 88-80 edge heading into the final stanza.
SMB unleashed a 13-0 binge capped by a Perez jumper that pushed the Beermen’s advantage to 101-80 and broke the game wide open with 8:28 left.
A Romeo bucket gave SMB its biggest lead 114-90, only 4:13 to go.
Jaydee Tungcab carried the fight for Blackwater with 15 points and two caroms, while James Kwekuteye added 15 markers.
