THE San Miguel Beer juggernaut claimed another victim in Blackwater to the tune of a 124-109 victory Wednesday at the PhilSports Arena, officially knocking the latter out of the PBA Philippine Cup playoff picture.
Despite being assured of the top seeding and a twice-to-beat advantage in the ensuing quarterfinals the Beermen still ran on all cylinders with CJ Perez, June Mar Fajardo and Don Trollano alternately taking the lead in powering their team to a 10thwin in as many games.
The loss, its seventh straight, dropped Blackwater into a tie with Phoenix Super LPG at 3-7, rendering the match between the two eliminated teams on Saturday a no-bearing one except for pride.
Correcting some of his team’s mistakes during the game was the key to it moving just one win away from becoming only the fifth team to complete an elimination round sweep, according to SMB coach Jorge Gallent.
“We were making turnovers, we gave Blackwater opportunities to make transition points, so we just have to minimize our turnovers and minimize our forced shots for us not to give up easy transition points,” related Gallent.
One more win in its last elimination round assignment against Meralco also on Saturday and SMB will become only the fifth team in PBA history to sweep the elims, something Gallent knows his side is very capable of.
“Everybody’s hungry to beat us, but we just have to play as a unit, play together, we will be okay. That’s what we did here in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter,” said Gallent.
“As what I was telling the players, when the ball is moving, we’re a great team.”
Perez wound up with 26 points to become the first player to record 25-plus points in six straight games while Fajardo tallied 21 points and 16 rebounds as the two powered SMB to as much as a 49-34 lead before settling for a 60-53 halftime count.
Trollano, meanwhile, scattered 15 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter that saw the Beermen erect as much as a 112-88 lead before cruising to a franchise-best 12thstraight win dating back to the last Commissioner’s Cup finals.
The victory also highlighted a memorable night for SMB, coming as it did after a halftime ceremony in which multi-awarded Arwind Santos’ jersey number 29 was retired by the franchise he helped to nine titles.
“I told the boys to win this for Arwind. Let’s not ruin his night,” said Gallent. (NC)
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 124 – Perez 26, Trollano 25, Fajardo 21, Cruz 14, Romeo 12, Lassiter 11, Brondial 9, Teng 4, Manuel 2, Enciso 0, Tautuaa0, Malillin 0, Ross 0.
BLACKWATER 109 – Tungcab 15, Kwekuteye 15, Rosario 15, Hill 13, David 12, Casio 8, Chua 8, Ilagan 7, Suerte 5, Nambatac 5, Guinto 2, Escoto 2, Sena 2, Jopia 0, Yap 0.
QUARTERS: 32-24, 60-53, 88-80, 124-109.
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