Terrence Romeo came alive and saved San Miguel from Ginebra in overtime, 131-125,, to get even in their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup semifinals witnessed by a solid crowd at the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Friday night.
The former three-time scoring king finished with 26 points, nine of which he made in the extra period that included seven straight — both from the first and second arcs — to give themselves the lead for good, 121-117, with 2:07 left.
Marcio Lassiter, EJ Anosike, and Jericho Cruz would go on to apply the finishing touches afterwards as the Beermen averted disaster from taking place after blowing a 74-61 third-quarter lead and trailing by four, 103-99, in regulation.
“He’s always ready for that competition. He showed you guys now na if his name is called, he will deliver,” offered head coach Jorge Gallent of the 32-year-old guard, who scored 22 of his points in the fourth quarter and OT.
Anosike top-scored for San Miguel with 35 points and nine rebounds, scoring 33 in the game’s first three quarters to help his side get the early lead.
CJ Perez fired 28 points, including a booming four-pointer with 2.4 seconds left in regulation for the 110-108 lead before it was negated by the perfect trip to the foul line by counterpart Maverick Ahanmisi with 1.3 ticks on the clock.
June Mar Fajardo was back to his old ways as well, finishing with a 20-20 stat line by delivering 23 points and 21 rebounds along with six assists.
Lassiter nailed two treys to add 12 points, four rebounds, and five assists as a total of five players finished in double figures for San Miguel.
“What’s nice about it was we just didn’t panic. They didn’t panic, and they just went through the flow of our offense. And I think we did a better job defensively today,” said Gallent as his team also won the rebounding battle, 62-49.
Justin Brownlee, on the other hand, finished with a game-high 39 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists as his efforts were not enough for the crowd darlings to complete the comeback and build a 2-0 series lead.
The three-time Best Import scored 15 in the fourth, strapping the Barangay on his back as he scored nine of his points in the remaining 3:09 of regulation to keep his team in the thick of the fight, only to fall short at the end.
Japeth Aguilar supplied 28 points and eight rebounds. Scottie Thompson tallied 16 points, six rebounds, and 10 assists, while Ahanmisi and Stephen Holt added 15 and 14 markers, respectively, in their foiled comeback bid.
Game 3 of the best-of-7 battle between two of the long-time league powerhouses is on Sunday at the Dasmarinas City Arena in Cavite.
The Scores:
San Miguel 131 – Anosike 35, Perez 28, Romeo 26, Fajardo 23, Lassiter 12, Cruz 5, Tautuaa 2, Ross 0, Rosales 0, Trollano 0, Enciso 0, Manuel 0.
Ginebra 125 – Brownlee 39, J.Aguilar 29, Thompson 16, Ahanmisi 15, Holt 14, Abarrientos 4, Tenorio 3, Cu 2, Devance 2, Pinto 1, Pessumal 0, Adamos 0.
Quarterscores: 22-24, 51-47, 85-76, 110-110, 131-125.
