San Miguel moved a win away from the Big Dance after taking down Barangay Ginebra anew, 106-96, in Game 2 of the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals, Friday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The troika of Marcio Lassiter, CJ Perez, and Bennie Boatwright came through with the key buckets in crunch time as the Beermen showed poise once more on the way to seizing a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series.
“I just told the boys to dictate the tempo of the game and to match their energy, which came out very good for our start. We kinda sustained it and everybody just played as a unit,” said head coach Jorge Gallent.
Boatwright was back in his scoring ways after being held to a conference-low the last time out as he finished with 38 points on 52-percent shooting from the field, including a 6-of-11 clip from deep, alongside nine rebounds.
His last trey of the game proved to be the most important as it pushed their lead to 99-93 with 1:49 left, a gap that the Kings could no longer hurdle while the Beermen continued the assault en route to the 10-point win.
“Bennie is a great player,” lauded Gallent of the 27-year-old Boatwright. “Bennie can adjust because I think that’s the first time he played the Gin Kings, so now this is his second game so he just adjusted well and he did good.”
Perez supplied 17 points and seven rebounds. June Mar Fajardo also delivered 17 points and 14 rebounds, together with an assist, three steals, and a career-high six blocks to help SMB move on the verge of a sweep.
“I’m very happy. The team’s very happy that June Mar is back and playing well,” said a proud Gallent. “His presence inside is a big, big factor for us because it gives our shooters a lot of time to shoot — and open looks.”
San Miguel will look to finish off the reigning conference champions in Game 3 on Sunday, January 28, 6 p.m., still at the MoA Arena.
Jamie Malonzo, on the other hand, sank six treys and finished with 27 points, eight rebounds, and four assists to lead Ginebra in the defeat.
Tony Bishop made 25 points and nine boards. Maverick Ahanmisi contributed 13 points albeit on 17 attempts. BPC race leader Christian Standhardinger only scored nine, but collected 14 rebounds and three assists.
The Kings actually led by as much as five, 65-60, during the third but couldn’t sustain as the Beermen erupted for 33 in the same period to retake control.
The Scores:
San Miguel 106 – Boatwright 38, Perez 17, Fajardo 17, Lassiter 16, Teng 7, Trollano 5, Cruz 4, Tautuaa 2, Brondial 0, Ross 0, Enciso 0.
Ginebra 96- Malonzo 27, Bishop 25, Ahanmisi 13, Thompson 9, Standhardinger 9, Pringle 6, Pinto 5, J.Aguilar 2, Tenorio 0.
Quarterscores: 23-21, 43-46, 76-74, 106-96.
