ANTIPOLO – San Miguel Beer is back in a very familiar territory in the PBA playoffs.
The Beermen made known their intention right away and dominated NorthPort from start to finish, 126-91, and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the end of the eliminations on Sunday.
CJ Perez again stood at the forefront of San Miguel’s offense with 24 points including 11 in the opening quarter when the Beermen began to create separation between them and the Batang Pier.
Jericho Cruz and Don Trollano each had 17 for San Miguel, which missed the playoffs of the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup.
Now the multi-titled franchise is back on top, finishing the eliminations with an 8-3 (win-loss) record in a tie with NLEX and Magnolia, but sealed the No. 1 spot owing to a better quotient.
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The Beermen will face defending champion and No. 8 seed Meralco Bolts in the quarterfinals that kicks off on Wednesday in a rematch of last season’s finals. This time, SMB holds a twice-to-beat advantage against the reigning champs.
“The loss that we have last conference was a disappointment for us because for the past decade we’ve never been out of the playoffs,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“And I think that’s one mindset na nalagay sa mga player. We cannot afford not to get into the playoffs (again). And luckily our program is just get into the Top 4, and sinuwerte kami na nagkaroon kami ng chance na maging top seed.”
Mo Tautuaa added 14 points, Marcio Lassiter contributed 10, and eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo had a modest double-double of 10 and 11 rebounds for the Beermen, who led by as many as 37 points late in the game.
NorthPort finished the season with a 2-9 record in a huge letdown after finishing as the top-seeded team in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup.
Joshua Munzon had 19 points, five rebounds, and four assists, sophomore Cade Flores added a double-double of 13 and 12 rebounds, and guards Fran Yu and Jerick Balanza chipped in 11 each for the Batang Pier.
The scores
San Miguel (126) - Perez 24, Cruz 17, Trollano 17, Tautuaa 14, Fajardo 10, Lassiter 10, Brondial 8, Tiongson 7, Teng 4, Cahilig 3, Rosales 2, Calma 2, Ross.
Northport (91) - Munzon 19, Flores 13, Balanza 11, Yu 11, Taha 9, Abueva 5, Nelle 5, Cuntapay 5, Bulanadi 5, Kwekuteye 5, Onwubere 3, Nava 0.
Quarterscores: 25-16; 57-38; 92-67; 126-91.
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