San Miguel completed the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal picture by formally sending Terrafirma out of contention through a 126-110 beatdown on Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Beermen bucked Bennie Boatwright’s early foul trouble by leaning on their vaunted all-Filipino unit to take control just before the opening period ended, and then pulled away not long after to eventually win their second straight.
By dashing the hopes of the regular league minnows, the long-time powerhouse improved to 6-5, creating an interesting race as well as entering the playoffs.
(C) PBA Images
The bottom half of the Top Eight right now are in a stalemate, with Magnolia, Phoenix, defending champs TNT, and SMB all sharing the same record.
The quartet is all set to see action this weekend for the elimination round’s final two playdates, with San Miguel taking on the Fuel Masters on May 9.
“This is a very important game, and we can’t afford to lose, especially since Terrafirma had a chance to make the Top Eight,” said head coach Leo Austria. “We had a bad start, but because of our sense of urgency, we recovered.”
Boatwright, despite being hounded by fouls that saw him get three barely seven minutes into the game, led the way with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, and chalked up a steal and a block to submit a full line.
The former USC Trojan did all that even after a long, tiring day, which saw him appear before the Senate to commence his naturalization process.
June Mar Fajardo came through with a conference-high 30 points alongside 16 rebounds and four assists en route to earning Player of the Game honors.
Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz delivered 17 points apiece and combined for nine rebounds and seven assists while CJ Perez chipped in 15 markers.
(C) PBA Images
Terrafirma, on the other hand, dropped to 4-7 as a campaign that started so promising, with an unbeaten three-game winning streak, ended up just like the previous conferences: packing up for an early vacation.
Mubashar Ali led the Dyip with 28 points and eight rebounds. Jerrick Ahanmisi made 24 points, albeit on 22 shots, JM Bravo 14, while top pick Geo Chiu finished with another double-double outing with 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Terrafirma will look to finish its tournament strongly against Meralco this Friday, although it won’t be easy, as the Bolts need to win to clinch a Top Four spot.
The Scores:
San Miguel 126 – Boatwright 33, Fajardo 30, Cruz 17, Trollano 17, Perez 15, Tautuaa 4, Miller 4, Ross 2, Calma 2, Manuel 2, Lassiter 0, Tiongson 0, Rosales 0, Cahilig 0
Terrafirma 110 – Ali 28, J. Ahanmisi 24, Bravo 14, Chiu 12, Hernandez 9, Paraiso 9, Eriobu 8, Hanapi 4, Umali 2, M. Ahanmisi 0, Zaldivar 0, Garcia 0, Catapusan 0
Quarterscores: 23-16, 58-46, 92-78, 126-110.
