San Miguel survived a sloppy endgame and escaped Converge by way of a 102-95 decision to gain the head start in their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup best-of-5 quarterfinal affair, Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Beermen appeared to be cruising to a double-digit victory when they held a 97-81 lead with only 3:45 remaining in the game, but mismanagement allowed the FiberXers to come within just four, 99-95, in the closing moments.
Fortunately for the perennial contenders, Deschon Winston missed a triple and JL Delos Santos overcooked his forward pass as the opposition couldn’t come as close as they would have wanted with those instances.
It didn’t help Converge’s cause as well that it could no longer find the mark, and EJ Anosike went on to seal the deal as SMB grabbed the 1-0 lead.
Anosike top-scored for San Miguel with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists as he impressed in his PBA debut as the replacement of Jordan Adams.
