San Miguel Beer locked up on defense in the second half to overhaul a halftime deficit and turn it into a 128-108 blowout of import-less Blackwater for a share of the early lead in Group B of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen recovered from the Bossing’s surprising onslaught in the first two quarters despite playing without reinforcement Ricky Ledo, who after back-to-back subpar performances was let go and will be replaced by Cameron Clark.

Jordan Adams had a monster performance of 50 points on 17-of-29 field gold shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds in San Miguel’s second win in as many starts.

CJ Perez finished with 14 points while June Mar Fajardo submitted 13 markers and 10 boards for the Beermen, who joined Rain or Shine and NLEX on top of the standings.  

San Miguel emerged from the dugout with renewed energy and quickly dismantled a 56-63 deficit at the break, pulling away for good in the third period.   

“I just had to remind them that we weren’t playing San Miguel basketball in the first half, we were selfish in the first half. We weren’t rotating the ball and we were giving them easy shots especially in the paint. We gave them easy shots,” Beermen coach Jorge Gallent said.

“In the second half, I told them just to relax, enjoy the game and play our usual game and we will be OK. We just turned the defense on in the second half.”

The Bossing had no answer to the Beermen’s second half blitz to suffer their third defeat in as many games.

Troy Rosario led Blackwater with 25 points, rookie Sedrick Barefield had 16 while James Kwekuteye and Jewel Ponferada added 11 each.     

Box Scores:

SAN MIGUEL (128) --- Adams 50, Perez 14, Fajardo 13, Cruz 12, Rosales 10, Manuel 10, Trollano 8, Teng 8, Ross 3, Brondial 0, Nava 0, Tautuaa 0, Jimenez 0

BLACKWATER (108) --- Rosario 25, Barefield 16, Kwekuteye 11, Ponferrada 11, David 10, Mitchell 9, Chua 7, Hill 4, Suerte 3, Guinto 2, Corteza 2, Tungcab 0, Jopia

Quarters: 31-31, 56-63, 94-83, 128-108