ANTIPOLO – San Miguel blew past TNT behind a third-quarter attack on its way to a 110-95 victory on Friday in the PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center.
Cjay Perez led a stretch that saw the Beermen outscore the Tropang 5G, 39-14, in the third quarter on their way to a sixth straight win after two opening losses.
The runaway win also enabled SMB to secure a place in the quarterfinals and join NLEX, Rain or Shine, and Converge atop the team standings.
Perez exploded for 17 of his 33 points in the third quarter including two threes in a 14-0 start to the period after the Beermen trailed, 47-43, at the half.
The lead eventually ballooned to 27 points, 88-61, as San Miguel showed no signs of rust from the FIBA break especially with Perez also seeing action for Gilas.
San Miguel trailed by 14 points, 44-30, in one stretch in the second quarter.
“If you noticed, we had a good start and then after that, almost double figures ‘yung lead namin, tapos nag-relax kami, and all of a sudden, we were down by 10 points,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
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“I think they realized na we have to fight back and that’s what happened. Before the last two minutes of the second quarter, we were able to catch up and cut the lead to four at the half,” said Austria.
June Mar Fajardo had 13 points and 17 rebounds, while Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz had 12 and 11 points respectively for San Miguel.
Jordan Heading had 18 points including nine in the second quarter, while Calvin Oftana added 16 points in his first game since a hamstring injury kept him out of Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
The scores:
San Miguel 110 – Perez 33, Fajardo 13, Trollano 12, Cruz 11, Teng 10, Rosales 8, Brondial 7, Calma 6, Lassiter 4, Mantua 3, Tiongson 2, Tautuaa 1, Miller 0, Cahilig 0, Ross 0.
TNT 95 – Heading 18, Oftana 16, Ganuelas-Rosser 11, Galinato 9, Ferrer 7, Aurin 6, Nambatac 6, Khobuntin 5, Enciso 5, Jalalon 5, Nieto 4, Williams 3, Hill 0, Erram 0.
Quarters: 23-20; 43-47; 82-61; 110-95.
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