SAN MIGUEL Beermen (SMB) raised a glass for its third consecutive win in the 46th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup via a business-like, day-after-Christmas 100-88 disposal of Terrafirma at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Terrence Romeo turned in a new conference-high 23 points and shared scoring honors with import Brandon Brown as rejuvenated SMB continued its climb out of a 0-2 hole.
“We made a lot of sacrifices amid the holidays because we were down, 0-2, and it’s hard to climb back from that considering most of the teams are preparing as hard,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“I commend the players for recognizing the importance of our next games after we lost two consecutive and doing something about it,” he added.
Mr. Austria was relieved that the squad was able to do this without starting playmaker Chris Ross, who’s expected to be back next month after attending to personal matters in the US.
“We missed Ross. Fortunately, when somebody’s out of the lineup, other players step up. Terrence, especially, is playing well not only as a scorer but as a point guard,” the SMB mentor said of Mr. Romeo, who also posted four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
CJ Perez, with 17 markers and eight rebounds, and Vic Manuel, with 14 and eight, also delivered as SMB foiled the upset plans of the Dyip (1-4), who tried to repeat their 110-104 overtime reversal in the last Philippine Cup in Bacolor.
The Dyip plummeted to their third straight setback, unable to overcome the absence of injured mainstays Alex Cabagnot, Roosevelt Adams and Reden Celda.
Juami Tiongson had another hot scoring game against SMB, finishing with a team-high 21, including 11 in Terrafirma’s fourth-quarter rally. Mr. Tiongson dropped 28 on SMB in their previous matchup.
Antonio Hester shot 19.
Mr. Romeo torched Terrafirma with 11 in the first stanza as the Beermen zoomed to an early 13-point headstart. The Dyip managed to pull back to within three at 40-37 in the next period but the Romeo-Brown duo restored a fresh nine-point cushion for SMB via an 8-0 blast.
Mr. Brown banged in 12 after the break to power the Beermen to a 29-21 third-quarter exchange en route to a comfortable 77-58 tear. — Olmin Leyba