SAN Miguel Beer veteran Chris Ross gathered his teammates at midcourt before the second half got going and the Beermen trailing last night.
Showing it wanted it more, SMB essayed a 110-91 victory over a game but outclassed Terrafirma side in their knockout quarterfinals duel in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Whatever Ross told his teammates gave them the needed push in the last two quarters, with Terrence Romeo, Jericho Cruz, and reigning seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo joining hands in a vicious 9-0 answer capped by a Fajardo basket that made it a 96-76 game with 5:08 to go.
SMB’s big blitz doused cold water on the Dyip’s fightback try that saw them pull to within 76-87 on an Andreas Cahilig three-pointer with 7:12 remaining.
The win enabled the top seed Beermen to redeem themselves from a stunning 95-106 loss to Terrafirma five days ago that negated their twice-to-beat advantage and forge a best-of-7 semifinals showdown either against TNT or Rain or Shine beginning tomorrow at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The Tropang Giga and the Elasto Painters clashed in a similar do-or-die tiff at press time last night.
From what Beermen coach Jorge Gallent said, SMB simply refused to falter in this one.
“We came out with a lot of energy after halftime, and we pressured a lot. We took them (Dyip) out of their comfort zone,” Gallent said. “Our energy and discipline on defense really worked tonight.
“I would like to thank coach Al (Alfrancis Chua, SMC sports director) because he went to practice last Tuesday, and he spoke to everyone. He really gave good motivation and inspiration for tonight’s game,” he added.
Fajardo powered his way to game-highs of 25 points and 22 rebounds while Romeo chipped in 19 markers. Don Trollano, CJ Perez, and Cruz also had 18, 18, and 11 points, respectively. for SMB.
Terrafirma took a 45-44 buffer at the half but the Beermen worked behind efforts of Fajardo, Ross, Trollano, Perez, and Cruz and took a 79-66 edge heading into the final canto.
A Trollano triple stretched SMB’s advantage to as much as 110-89, only 25 ticks left.
Javi Gomez de Liaño paced the Dyip with 23 points and six board while Stephen Holt and Juami Tiongson combined for 36.
Cahilig also got 12 markers and seven caroms for Terrafirma.
