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SAN Miguel Beer took to heart its endgame slip-up the last time out and sprang back with a wire-to-wire 104-93 win over Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
CJ Perez led SMB’s balanced attack with 23 points, including two booming four-pointers that thwarted Ginebra’s siege and carried the Beermen through to their third win in four starts.
Don Trollano, June Mar Fajardo, Jericho Cruz, Juami Tiongson, and Marcio Lassiter also lit up the board in a hot San Miguel shooting, which the Kings couldn’t match in their second game in the season-ending Philippine Cup.
Coach Tim Cone’s troops couldn’t hit a good rhythm and missed a follow-up bid on their 101-80 rout of Terrafirma in their conference debut on Wednesday.
From a 30-point game, Japeth Aguilar limped to a 12-point outing versus the Beermen, who bounced back strong from their 95-98 loss to the Magnolia Hotshots the last time out.
The Beermen were an unstoppable force in this game, hitting at a high 51.9-percent clip. Trollano finished with 19 points, JMF with 18, Cruz with 11, and Tiongson and Lassiter with 10 apiece.
With guns blazing, the Beermen took the first canto at 25-11, led by as many as 23, and held no less than 12 leads to the finish.
The Kings threatened a rally twice but, as they came to within 12, found Perez unloading a four-point bomb each time.
At 87-75, Perez dropped a four-ball and then a three-pointer to personally scuttle the Kings’ final hurrah.
The Beermen battered the Kings on all fronts to establish a 48-30 lead at the half.
Though dragged to a low-scoring first-half duel, the Beermen took command with their efficient defense, holding the Kings to a 30-percent clip.
A significant disparity was San Miguel converting 50 percent of its three-point tries (8-of-16) while Ginebra bleeding with just one of eight from downtown.
Trollano led the way for SMB with three treys and 11 in the opening half, while Fajardo was suitable for eight markers and had the same number of rebounds.
For Ginebra, not one player hit twin digits in the first two quarters.
The scores:
San Miguel 104 – Perez 23, Trollano 19, Fajardo 18, Cruz 11, Tiongson 10, Lassiter 10, Rosales 8, Calma 4, Teng 1, Brondial 0, Cahilig 0, Tautuaa 0, Ross 0.
Ginebra 93 – Rosario 24, Holt 16, Malonzo 16, Thompson 14, J. Aguilar 12, Abarrientos 6, Pinto 3, Ahanmisi 2, Cu 0, R. Aguilar 0, Adamos 0.
Quarterscores: 25-11, 48-30, 83-65, 104-93