SAN Miguel Beer needed to be at full strength to hurdle a tough foe yesterday and is now back in a very familiar place.
CJ Perez continued to make waves in his first playoff appearance, scoring 21 points to lead the Beermen past NorthPort 100-95 and into the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Mo Tautuaa, Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo also did their part as SMB took control right in the second quarter before staving off NorthPort’s protracted uprisings and completing a sweep of the best-of-three quarterfinals duel.
The Beermen sealed their place in the best-of-seven semis, where the TNT Tropang Giga are waiting after making short work of last year’s champion Ginebra last Wednesday.
The win helped erase SMB’s bitter memories of last year, when it didn’t even make it past the quarterfinals, and continued the dream-like ride of Perez, the 2018 top overall pick who didn’t make the playoffs while with original team Columbian (now Terrafirma).
“First semis ko ito, talagang sobrang excited ako,” said the former Lyceum star, who made half of his 12 shots from the field and added four rebounds and two steals.
SMB coach Leo Austria said the score may not be as close as his team’s 88-87 squeaker in the series opener, but just as hard to come by.
“We all know it will not be an easy game because it was a do-or-die for Northport. We consider NorthPort as a strong team,” Austria said.
“That’s why before the game I asked the team to take this game seriously because their (Batang Pier) backs are against the wall and we want to get to the semis right away. We cannot know what will happen if there ever was a third game.”
NorthPort tried hard to force a decider, tenaciously whittling at what was a 61-74 third quarter deficit and coming within 91-96, just under a minute left.
But SMB would not be derailed from its purpose with Perez, Chris Ross and Lassiter delivering the charities that kept NorthPort at bay.
Tautuaa wound up with 17 points, Lassiter added 15 and Fajardo 12 and 12 rebounds.
Arwind Santos had his own double-double with 11 points and a teamhigh 13 boards.
Terrence Romeo also played his first game back from an Achilles injury, notching 11 points but shot just just 4-of-12 from the field.
With the SMB defense focused on Robert Bolick, Greg Slaughter picked up the scoring slack with a game-high 27 points on top of 12 rebounds while Jamie Malonzo notched 17 points and Sydney Onwubere 14. Bolick issued a game-high 14 assists to go with his 12 points.
