San Miguel finished strong to repel Meralco, 110-98, for back-to-back wins in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum Wednesday.
The Beermen poured 33 big points in the final quarter in a solid response to the Bolts’ 36 in the period prior en route to coming out triumphant in a special game filled with nostalgia, as the league celebrated its 50th anniversary.
It was a retro-inspired match-up, with both squads wearing throwback uniforms, but the night belonged to one of the league’s pioneers in a vengeful win as well, with the result of last season’s Philippine Cup fueling the crew in the rematch.
SMB lost in six games and yielded the Perpetual trophy to the MVP Group-owned franchise. But 10 months later, they earned a payback of sorts by dealing their old tormentor its first loss of the conference after a 2-0 start.
(C) PBA Images
“We know that this is a very historical game. So, I told them that this is a huge game for us,” said head coach Leo Austria. “This is the All-Filipino and we want to redeem ourselves. I’m so happy that they didn’t lose their composure.”
CJ Perez top-scored for San Miguel with 29 points, five rebounds, and four assists. June Mar Fajardo finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds as the two played a crucial role in silencing the opposition once and for all,
As Aaron Black cut the gap to just six, Perez responded with a lay-up off a drive to the rack, before Marcio Lassiter knocked down both of his free throws to give themselves a 105-95 lead with less than two minutes left.
The door slowly began to close on Meralco, when Black committed a turnover. It didn’t help, too, that rookie Kurt Reyson missed a four-pointer.
Perez collared the board and threw a touchdown pass to Fajardo, who then scored off an unmolested bucket to stretch their lead to 107-95 with 43.5 seconds left to play, all but sealing the deal for the traditional contenders.
“They were able to cut the lead to two so that was a really scary moment for us,” said Austria as the Bolts came within 77-75 entering the fourth.
“But because of the experience of the players like June Mar Fajardo and the others, they know how to win and deal with that kind of situation,” he added.
(C) PBA Images
Chris Newsome, on the other hand, led Meralco with 27 points, four rebounds, and seven assists against five turnovers in the defeat.
Reyson finished with 14 points to lead the bench. Black and Raymar Jose made 12 points each, while Cliff Hodge added 10 markers and seven rebounds.
Meralco (2-1) will next take on the 0-2 Phoenix on Sunday, April 12, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, with the hope to get back on track right away.
The Scores:
San Miguel 110 – Perez 29, Fajardo 28, Teng 11, Brondial 9, Lassiter 8, Tiongson 7, Rosales 7, Tautuaa 6, Trollano 5, Cahilig 0.
Meralco 98 – Newsome 27, Reyson 14, Black 12, Jose 12, Hodge 10, Cansino 8, Bates 6, Almazan 5, Quinto 4, Torres 0, Rios 0, Caram 0, Pascual 0.
Quarterscores: 25-21, 52-38, 77-74, 110-98.
