The good times continue to roll for San Miguel Beermen.
With almost every one fielded contributing on offense, the dominant Beermen resumed their winning ways, drubbing the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 111-98, for their fifth straight win on Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“Yeah 5-0, but actually it’s not that easy to get to win number five, especially with this game,” shared SMB head coach Leo Austria. “In the start, our big men went into foul trouble earlier, especially Charles Rhodes.”
Import Charles Rhodes led the way fro San Miguel with 26 points — 14 in the payoff period — on 60 percent shooting along with six boards, two assists, and a block in the 23 minutes he played. However, he had five fouls.
The Beermen had their first taste of a comfortable cushion late in the second half, 55-40, after three straight buckets from Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos, and Gabby Espinas with 1:34 to go. From there, it was all Beermen.
A fiery 10-0 run, capped by a thunderous dunk by Rhodes, from 85-75 lifted San Miguel up by 20 markers, 95-75, with 6:09 left to play — enough indication to call it a night once and for all on the Elasto Painters, who are now 4-3.
“This is just our fifth game. Hopefully we continue to roll,” hoped Austria.
Gabby Espinas supplied 15 markers for SMB, while Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo, who was scoreless last game versus Mahindra, each added 14. Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter produced 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Shawn Taggart led the Elasto Painters with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but committed seven turnovers. Backcourt players Maverick Ahanmisi and Jeff Chan backed him up with 16 points each on a combined 13-of-20 shooting.
The Beermen shot a notable 52 percent on the floor in the win. They also converted Rain or Shine’s 21 miscues to 27 points. Their bench provided 35 points to their total output.
San Miguel will look to go undefeated as they square up against TNT on May 5, Friday, 7:00 PM at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, while Rain or Shine will try to bounce back versus Star on May 6, Saturday, 5:00 PM, in Batangas City.
The Scores:
San Miguel (111) – Rhodes 26, Espinas 15, Cabagnot 14, Fajardo 14, Santos 13, Lassiter 12, Ross 10, De Ocampo 5, Heruela 2, Garcia 0.
Rain or Shine (98) – Taggart 24, Ahanmisi 16, Chan 16, Yap 13, Cruz 11, Belga 8, Norwood 5, Ponferada 5, Tolomia 0, Tiu 0, Almazan 0, Washington 0.
Quarterscores: 26-23, 57-44, 82-68, 111-98.
