In the end, San Miguel still got the job done.
With many hoping to witness a massive upset, the Beermen showed that none of that would happen by beating Terrafirma in convincing fashion, 110-91, to advance to the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup semis, Wednesday night.
Against essentially a pro-Dyip crowd at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, the reigning champions began to tear the Dyip defense apart in the third and stayed in control all the way in a solid display of experience in the quarterfinal do-or-die.
Now Coach Jorge Gallent and his charges will turn their attention to the best-of-7 semis against the winner between TNT and Rain or Shine. The deciding Game 3 of the said quarters series will be played later tonight.
“We did a great job in the second half,” lauded head coach Jorge Gallent. “The guards played well and defended their guards well, and June Mar did a good job extending his defense against their shooters.”
June Mar Fajardo led SMB with 25 points and 22 rebounds. The reigning seven-time MVP shot an efficient 57-percent from the floor as he imposed his presence inside against his younger counterparts, especially in the second half.
“Thankful ako sa mga coaches ko, sa mga teammates ko, alam nila na nahihirapan ako sa depensa. Nagpo-provide sila ng help. Yun yung adjustment namin. Yun yung ginawa namin today,” said the 10-time champion.
Terrence Romeo came through with the big spark with 19 points, 10 of which he made in the first half as he helped his side erase the seven-point deficit and put themselves ahead by a point, 45-44, entering the intermission.
CJ Perez supplied 18 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Don Trollano flirted with a double-double with 18 points as well, spiked by a trio of triples, and eight rebounds, while Jericho Cruz chipped in 11 markers.
“Just picked up the energy and played good defense,” said Gallent. “When we played against Meralco and the first time we played against Terrafirma, we were kind of sluggish. We just watched a lot of film.”
Javi Gomez de Liano, meanwhile, carried the fight for Terrafirma with 23 points and six rebounds in the loss that ended what had been a dream run for a franchise that made just its second-ever quarterfinal trip in their history.
Juami Tiongson and Stephen Holt had 18 points apiece but the backcourt tandem shot a combined 13-of-33 from the floor as the SMB defense doubled down on them after dropping 29 and 25, respectively, in the first game.
“Yung biggest part was the matchups. We watched a lot of matchups so that big boy here will not have a hard time. Plus ‘yung guards, we were rotating on Juami and Holt. ‘Yun lang ‘yung adjustments, yung film,” said Gallent.
The Scores:
San Miguel 110 – Fajardo 25, Romeo 19, Perez 18, Trollano 18, Cruz 11, Lassiter 8, Ross 5, Tautuaa 4, Brondial 2, Enciso 0.
Terrafirma 91 – Gomez de Liano 23, Holt 18, Tiongson 18, Cahilig 12, Go 7, Camson 7, Carino 4, Ramos 2, Alolino 0, Mina 0, Sangalang 0.
Quarterscores: 20-25, 45-44, 79-66, 110-91
