San Miguel inched closer to clinching a twice-to-beat quarterfinal incentive following a 98-91 victory over Magnolia to stay perfect in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Triples by Chris Ross and CJ Perez inside the final 64 seconds of the game were all enough to douse cold water on the Hotshots’ fiery rally and secure their eighth win in as many outings to remain untouched on top of the standings.
“It’s good that we really bounce back when we start bad. We just played San Miguel basketball and the results were there,” said coach Jorge Gallent.
Perez top-scored for the Beermen with 25 points while Ross finished with 15 points, all of which he earned from beyond the arc as he went 5-of-10.
Marcio Lassiter garnered all of his points from deep as well, going 4-of-6 for 12 points, while Mo Tautua’a chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds on a night June Mar Fajardo got limited to his usual numbers.
The seven-time MVP got held to just nine points but made up for it in other aspects as he collected seven rebounds, seven assists, and a steal.
By keeping their mastery of the Hotshots, which they beat in the last Commissioner’s Cup finals, SMB posted the first 8-0 start since TNT started out with 13 straight wins back in the 2014 edition of the said conference.
Surely, they’d want to finish the eliminations unbeaten, which the crew will try to do against NLEX (April 28), Blackwater (May 1), and Meralco (May 4).
Paul Lee, on the other hand, had 23 points to lead Magnolia, who witnessed the end of its four-game winning run and fell to 5-3, joining the Road Warriors at third as they both sit behind Ginebra, the new No. 2 team at 6-3.
Aris Dionisio had 22 points while Ian Sangalang made 17 points for a side that missed the services of Jio Jalalon due to a meniscus injury.
Magnolia will try to get back on track immediately against the Bolts on April 28 as well, Sunday, 3 p.m. at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
The Scores:
San Miguel 98 – Perez 25, Ross 15, Lassiter 12, Tautuaa 10, Fajardo 9, Brondial 9, Cruz 9, Romeo 6, Trollano 3, Manuel 0.
Magnolia 91- Lee 23, Dionisio 22, Sangalang 17, Mendoza 8, Barroca 9, Laput 6, Tratter 5,Dela Rosa 1, Escoto 0, Balanza 0, Eriobu 0, Abueva 0.
Quarterscores: 24-11, 51-40, 70-64, 98-91.
