The San Miguel Beermen cruised to a 101-72 win over the Barangay Ginebra Kings in a game-long superb performance to keep their title defense bid alive at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday evening.
In front of 22,196 patrons, majority of whom were expecting to see their beloved Ginebra enter the finals, which they last won eight years ago, San Miguel weren’t having any of it.
The sweet shooting of Marcio Lassiter produced 25 points to lead the scoring for the Beermen, including a 7-for-9 clip from beyond the arc. June Mar Fajardo had 17 points and 16 rebounds, while remaining starters Alex Cabagnot, Elijah Millsap and Arwind Santos each had 13.
After leading by eight for the first twelve minutes, the Beermen stormed to a 15-0 blast to open the second period. Marcio Lassiter scored 11 straight points in the stretch, courtesy of his instinctive sniping from the perimeter, to open the floodgates in favor of SMB.
Moreover, San Miguel were able to limit Ginebra, such as in a ten minute drought bridging the first two periods, and their defense made the crowd favorites sweat for points, scoring only seven
As if unfazed by the intermission break, SMB continued to tear it up with a 14-4 blast to open up a 69-37 lead to stun Ginebra. From that point on, the Beermen denied Ginebra any attempt at a comeback.
“It’s important for our team to have a good start. Our intentions is to limit these guys (Tenorio, Aguilar, Brownlee) kahit na blowout ito,” declared coach Leo Austria after his team had silenced Ginebra’s big three to a silent 46-point production, with only a point from Aguilar.
However, Austria feels it will be a whole new different game come Game 5, as he knows Ginebra will be prepared in the winner-take-all joust.
“It doesn’t matter nga kung blowout eh, kahit isa lang lamang namin masaya na kami,” Austria added . “I’m sure different ball game yan. Nung alanganin na sila (Ginebra), they did not play their key players meaning he is already preparing them for the next game and it will be tough. It’s good for the basketball fans.”
San Miguel led for the entire 48-minute game, and they also crashed the boards better with a 66 to 44 disparity. Moreover, Lassiter’s shooting clip accounted for majority of SMB’s 15-for-36 shooting from beyond the arc, which is six more makes compared to Ginebra’s 9-for-32 attempts.
The rubber match of this series will be on Tuesday, 7pm, at the same venue.
The Scores:
San Miguel (101) – Lassiter 25, Fajardo 17, Cabagnot 13, Millsap 13, Santos 13, Ross 9, Espinas 2, Mabulac 2, De Ocampo 2, Heruela 2, Reyes 0, David 0.
Ginebra (72) – Brownlee 28, Tenorio 17, Devance 6, Cruz 5, Marcelo 4, Caguioa 4, Helterbrand 3, Bonifacio 2, Salva 2, Thompson 0, Marcelo 0, Villamor 0, Mariano 0
Quarterscores: 30-22, 55-29, 82-52, 101-72
