SAN Miguel Beer simply proved too much for Converge last night.
Leaning on a decisive second half breakaway, the No. 2 Beermen dumped the seventh-ranked FiberXers 121-105 in their quarterfinals duel in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Cameron Clark scattered game-highs of 40 points and 13 rebounds, while the locals did their share in twice-to-beat SMB’s big follow up to a 129-116 rout of Rain or Shine in its last eliminations game three days ago.
CJ Perez chipped in 26 markers, 12 boards and five assists for the Beermen, who also got 20 and 12 points from Vic Manuel and Jericho Cruz, respectively.
With the win, SMB forged a best-of-5 semifinals battle with the winner of the Last 8 showdown pitting defending champion and third seed Ginebra and No. 6 NLEX.
The Kings, armed with a win-once incentive, clashed with the Road Warriors at press time also last night.
The loss came on the heels of a 101-120 setback at the hands of Ginebra last March 5 and served as a heartrending ending to what was once a promising campaign for Converge in the season-ending tourney.
The FiberXers carried a 6-2 mark at the tail-end of the eliminations before they dropped three in a row and handed prolific but mercurial reinforcement Jamaal Franklin the pink slip before the quarterfinals.
Beermen coach Jorge Gallent admitted new Converge import Tom Vodanovich gave his charges fits early on, before they made the big adjustments in the second half.
“We just had to take out his three-point shooting because I think he had 23 points in the first half. We just had to challenge his shots and once we challenged those in the second half, we were good,” Gallent said. “Our switching defense kinda worked in the second half.
“In the second half, we just played with pacing. We didn’t run with them (FiberXers). We just played how we were supposed to play our halfcourt offense,” he added.
SMB fell 57-58 at the break but battled back behind Clark and Manuel to grab a 94-82 edge heading into the final stanza.
