SPORTS
Beermen wreck Batang Pier to stay unbeaten
San Miguel Beer barely broke a sweat in flattening NorthPort, 120-100, to stay unbeaten and formalize its quarterfinals entry in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The defending champions controlled the match right from the get-go and reached the century mark in scoring with four minutes left in the third quarter on their way to a pristine 7-0 win-loss record.
CJ Perez posted 29 points shooting 11-of-18 from the field and pulled down nine rebounds with six assists for the Beermen, who dished out a total of 31 assists.
Head coach Jorge Gallent attributed the blowout win on his wards’ commitment to share the ball that kept the Batang Pier off their defensive pattern.
“As I always say, if my players share the ball we’re a great team but if we don’t share the ball we’re just a normal team,” Gallent said.
Mo Tautuaa chipped in 15 points and Marcio Lassiter had 14 markers on 5-of-8 field goal shooting including 4-of-5 from the outside to surpass James Yap for fourth in the league’s all-time list of three-pointers made.
Big man June Mar Fajardo came up a rebound short of a double-double with 12 markers and nine rebounds. Don Trollano had 13 points and Jeron Teng added 10 for San Miguel.
All was over but the shouting entering the payoff period. Trollano pushed the Beermen’s advantage beyond reach, 114-75, with a breakaway layup in the last 9:43 of the game as Gallent slowly emptied his bench.
Fajardo gave the Beermen their 100th point with a turnaround jumper with 4:10 remaining in the third period and pushed San Miguel’s lead to 37.
The Batang Pier dropped their fourth straight game that pulled them down to a 4-5 slate tied with Terrafirma.
Arvin Tolentino scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Zav Lucero, Allyn Bulanadi and Joshua Munzon all finished with 10 markers for NorthPort.
Box scores:
SAN MIGUEL (120) –-- Perez 29, Tautuaa 15, Lassiter 14, Trollano 13, Fajardo 12, Teng 10, Enciso 9, Brondial 8, Ross 6, Romeo 4, Mallilin 0
NORTHPORT (100) –-- Tolentino 26, Lucero 10, Bulanadi 10, Cuntapay 9, Zamar 8, Adamos 4, Flores 4, Amores 4, Rosales 3, Taha 3, Paraiso 3, Yu 2, Chan 2, Navarro 2
Quarters: 36-27, 72-47, 105-71, 120-100
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