CJ Perez was simply the difference as San Miguel finished off Ginebra, 101-88, to book a return trip to the PBA Philippine Cup Finals, Friday night.
The former three-time scoring champion fired 30 of his 41 points in the first quarter, leading the Beermen to a 39-25 lead to help set the tone in their favor–in the process rewriting the league’s history books with such a sizzling start.
He became just the first local to score that many points in a period in 36 years, or since all-time great Allan Caidic fired 37 in the third toward a league record 79 in Presto Tivolis’ 162-149 victory over the Kings back in 1991.
His perfect 12-of-12 clip in the start so impressive, furthermore, is now the best 100-percent clip in a quarter by any player, eclipsing the 9-for-9 of Cyrus Baguio in 2010, according to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
It wasn’t all smooth-sailing for Perez and his crew, however, as the crowd darlings rallied back from as much as 19 down and chopped the gap to as little as five points, 81-76, barely two minutes into the deciding chapter.
But SMB was just deeper and plainly better, with Mo Tautua’a stopping the drought before Don Trollano took over to make it a 99-83 lead with 2:13 left.
Ginebra would go on to throw in the towel with about a minute to go as they could no longer put together one last hurrah, and San Miguel would go on to help Perez breach the 40-point mark in the dying seconds to close it out.
