Games tomorrow:
(Philsports Arena)
4:30 p.m. — Magnolia vs Terrafirma
7:30 p.m. — NLEX vs Rain or Shine
It was more of the same for the still unbeaten defending champion San Miguel Beer.
A good start was all Beermen needed to move within a win from sweeping the elimination round after a cakewalk against Blackwater, 124-109, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Wednesday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
San Miguel connected its 10th win in a row on the same day it celebrated the jersey retirement of former Beermen great Arwind Santos.
A big fourth quarter explosion blew the game wide-open and sent skidding Bossing to their seventh straight defeat to bow out of the quarterfinals race.
“I told them to play for Arwind, let’s not ruin his night by losing today. And they stepped up. They really played well in the third and fourth (quarters),” San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent said as the squad recorded its all-time longest winning streak of 12 dating back to the last two games of the Commissioner’s Cup finals series.
Meralco is the only team standing in the way of the Beermen from achieving the first perfect elims campaign in the league since TNT Tropang Giga made a sweep in the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup.
The Beermen and the Bolts will meet on Saturday at the Batangas City Coliseum in Batangas.
CJ Perez was in his usual self, finishing with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists for San Miguel. Don Trollano had 25 markers on 8-of-11 field goal shooting while June Mar Fajardo posted a double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds.
Jericho Cruz had 14 points while Terrence Romeo and Marcio Lassiter got 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Beermen.
Holding an eight-point lead entering the payoff period, San Miguel opened the floodgates in the first four minutes of the final canto with a blistering 13-0 run for a 101-80 advantage off a Perez jump shot with 8:41 left.
Romeo hit a jumper that gave the Beermen their biggest lead, 114-90, with 4:29 left.
Blackwater was shown the exit after sliding to a 3-7 slate tied with another also-ran squad Phoenix.
JD Tungcab, James Kwekuteye and Troy Rosario scored 15 apiece, Tyrus Hill made 13 while Christian David got 12 for the Bossing.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL (124) — Perez 26, Trollano 25, Fajardo 21, Cruz 14, Romeo 12, Lassiter 11, Brondial 9, Teng 4, Manuel 2, Enciso 0, Tautuaa0, Malillin 0, Ross 0.
BLACKWATER (109) — Tungcab 15, Kwekuteye 15, Rosario 15, Hill 13, David 12, Casio 8, Chua 8, Ilagan 7, Suerte 5, Nambatac 5, Guinto 2, Escoto 2, Sena 2, Jopia 0, Yap 0.
Quarters: 32-24, 60-53, 88-80, 124-109.