San Miguel Beer turned to its main weapons in a telling third-quarter burst to clobber Terrafirma, 110-91, and claim a semifinals seat in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Big man June Mar Fajardo, Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez connived in the decisive 18-3 run early in the second half, creating a 15-point gap to set the tone for the top-seed defending champions’ blowout win.
San Miguel, which was forced to use its twice-to-beat quarterfinals advantage after dropping the series opener, will wait for its best-of-seven semis opponent between Rain or Shine and TNT Tropang Giga, who are playing at press time.
Game 1 of the semis is on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Seven-time Most Valuable Player Fajardo came alive in the last two quarters after scoring only four points in the first half as he finished with his 11th double-double in the all-Filipino conference with 25 points and 22 rebounds.
The decorated center poured eight markers in the third quarter blitz that turned San Miguel’s slim one-point lead at halftime to 63-48 advantage with 6:31 left off a Perez jumper.
“Of course, our energy. We came out (with a lot of energy) at the start of the game. We pressured a lot and we brought them out of their comfort zone,” Beermen coach Jorge Gallent said of the adjustments that keyed their victory over the upset-conscious No. 8 seed.
Gallent commended his wards for sustaining their momentum to snap a two-game slide including a shocking, 95-106, loss in their first playoffs meeting last Saturday.
“Our energy and discipline on defense today really worked,” he said.