San Miguel leaned on a massive third-quarter turnaround to eventually send NLEX packing, 101-94, and claim the first ticket to the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinals, Thursday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Don Trollano ignited the 21-2 rally that flipped a six-point halftime deficit to a 68-55 lead with 6:05 left in the period, putting the Beermen ahead the rest of the way as they made good use of their win-once quarterfinal incentive.
Now, the reigning champs will be monitoring the clash between Converge and Ginebra later tonight as the winner of that series will be their next foes.
(C) PBA Images
“Either of those teams, it will really be hard,” Coach Leo Austria said. “Although we beat them in the eliminations, the semifinals are a different ball game.”
June Mar Fajardo submitted yet another monster showing with 26 points, 23 rebounds, and six assists to lead SMB in the Christmas Day victory, which was also their 10th straight in this conference after a rare 0-2 start.
Jericho Cruz finished with 18 points, 11 of which he made in the opening period alone. Trollano delivered 17 points, including 10 in the aforementioned rally as the Adamson tandem joined hands to spearhead the bench support.
CJ Perez supplied 14 points while Rodney Brondial fell just short of a double-double as the veteran workhorse made eight points and 14 rebounds.
“We struggled in the first half because credit to NLEX, they were really prepared, especially in the first quarter, we were not able to execute,” Austria said.
“But the likes of June Mar Fajardo, he didn’t score a lot in the first half, but come the second half, he did. He knows how to win, and talagang itsina-charge ko ito sa experience ng team,” the champion bench tactician added.
(C) PBA Images
Robert Bolick led NLEX with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in the loss that prolonged the franchise’s semis drought to nine conferences.
The star guard did try to will his side back into the game by chopping the gap to single digits in the closing minutes, but his big-game hunting would backfire after an ill-advised four-pointer with 1:21 remaining to play was missed.
He tried to make up for it by going perfect from the line to slice the deficit to 97-94 with 40 seconds left, but Fajardo and Trollano would close the door on their comeback hopes by going perfect on separate trips to the free throw line.
Big men JB Bahio and Dom Fajardo added 10 markers apiece for the Road Warriors, who ended the conference with four straight losses.
The Scores:
San Miguel 101 – Fajardo 26, Cruz 18, Trollano 17, Perez 14, Brondial 8, Tautuaa 6, Lassiter 5, Tiongson 4, Cahilog 3, Teng 0, Rosales 0, Ross 0.
NLEX 94 – Bolick 31, Bahio 10, Fajardo 10, Ramirez 9, Alas 9, Onwubere 9, Gonzales 6, Mocon 5, Torres 4, Capulong 1, Policarpio 0, Rodger 0, Nieto 0
Quarterscores: 28-29, 47-53, 79-72, 101-94.
