JASON Perkins battered Racal on all fronts in Cignal-San Beda's 93-85 win over the Tile Masters in the PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup finals on Thursday.
Perkins did most of the damage, erupting for 28 points with eight rebounds and two assists for the Hawkeyes.
But the former La Salle forward downplayed his stellar outing, saying it was the collective effort that allowed the Hawkeyes to get the headstart in the best-of-three series.
"It's all on my teammates. I have such a good support system around me. We have so many threats on the court like Pamboy (Raymundo), (Robert) Bolick, Harold (Arboleda), Ben (Adamos), so it really opens up the floor for everybody," Perkins said.
"It just happened to be my night tonight. Everyone on the team made a great job of moving the ball around and playing together. It's all on the team."
[See Perkins takes charge as Cignal-San Beda takes Game One]
Indeed, he got plenty of support from Raymundo and Bolick in Thursday's match at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Raymundo and Bolick combined for 40 points as the Hawkeyes doused a late-game fightback by the Tile Masters led by Rey Nambatac.
Perkins said the late-game meltdown should serve as a reminder for the Hawkeyes to always be on their toes come Game Two.
"I'm excited because we know they're gonna come back strong so it should be a fun game. That fourth quarter is gonna help us in the next game because they showed us what we need to work on," he said.