The San Miguel Beermen finally notched their first W after a monster 52-point performance from Tyler Wilkerson towed the previous conference’s champions to a 120-109 victory over the gutsy GlobalPort Batang Pier, Friday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The first quarter was a virtual display of firepower by the Philippine Cup champions. Powered by an early showing from import Tyler Wilkerson, who had 15 points in the quarter, the Beermen built a 21-9 lead by the halfway mark of the quarter. GlobalPort found no answer for the Beermen’s early explosion, and could only rely on sharpshooting guards Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle to add to their scoreboard. San Miguel later in the quarter enjoyed another round of cannons, this time from Marcio Lassiter, who sank four of his five 3-point attempts in the period. Wilkerson with 15 markers, and Lassiter with his 14, made up for 29 of the Beermen’s points, who closed out the quarter with a 34-23 lead.
Baskets from Roi Sumang and Billy Mamaril gave GlobalPort the means to cut the lead significantly early in the second, 31-36. With San Miguel’s first quarter heroes taking some much-needed rest, the GlobalPort scorers were able to keep the Beermen from mounting any more big explosions and pulling away for the bigger lead. The Batang Pier were able to trim the lead to as little as four points multiple times in the quarter, but the better-shooting San Miguel still prevailed in the second period shootout at the half, SMB led 67-58. They had already shot 12 of 19 from the arc by the time the halftime buzzer sounded.
Though the Beermen were able to extend their lead back to the double-digit mark early in the third, the Batang Pier soon found a way to slow down the San Miguel offensive and come within striking distance. Import Calvin Warner got some much-needed help from Jay Washington to lead a late third quarter rally and come within two, 77-79, with four minutes left on the clock. A triple from Washington to cap off the run gave GlobalPort their first taste of the lead. The Batang Pier’s sudden rally was able to wake Wilkerson and the San Miguel bigshots, who were able to take back the lead just before the buzzer. With three quarters gone by, the Beermen had the lead, 93-86.
The final quarter of the ballgame opened to a resumption of the status quo, with the Beermen, spurred by baskets from Alex Cabagnot, keeping the fire alive long enough to build another double digit lead early in the quarter, 98-88. Despite Terrence Romeo coming alive to keep the offense for GlobalPort, setbacks — such as Billy Mamaril fouling out and Stanley Pringle needing time to rest on the bench — came the Batang Pier’s way. As the two-minute mark approached, the lead was still with San Miguel. Even as Wilkerson fouled out, the Beermen needed only to go to their bench unit to hold on to the double digit lead.
Wilkerson had 11 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with his 52 big markers, to take home the night’s Player of the Game honors. He scored 34 points in the first half, and sank 7 of 11 3-point attempts. Marcio Lassiter led the San Miguel locals with 21 points, and shot an impressive 8-of-14 from the 3-point line. The Beermen overall dominated on the arc, having sunk 19 of their 36 attempts from the arc, 16 of those triples having come from Wilkerson and Lassiter.
Calvin Warner led GlobalPort with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Terrence Romeo contributed 22 points and 4 assists, and shot 3-of-5 from the arc. Despite losing, the Batang Pier also did well from the 3-point line, hitting 12 of 26 attempts.
San Miguel now sit at 1-1 after bagging their first game at the expense of GlobalPort. The Batang Pier, meanwhile, slide to a 2-2 slate.
The Scores:
San Miguel Beer (120) – Wilkerson 52, Lassiter 28, Fajardo 15, Cabagnot 12, Ross 5, Tubid 4, Espinas 2, Semerad 2, Lutz 0, Arana 0, De Ocampo 0.
Globalport (109) – Warner 27, Romeo 22, Pringle 19, Washington 13, Taha 9, Mamaril 7, Yeo 6, Sumang 4, Kramer 2, Semerad 0, Jensen 0, Maierhofer 0.
Quarterscores: 34-23, 67-58, 93-86, 120-109
Photo courtesy of PBA Images
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