Cruz shines with career-best outing, powers SMB past TNT

By REYNALD MAGALLON

San Miguel Beer came alive in the second half as Jericho Cruz and June Mar Fajardo took turns in punishing TNT to claim a 115-99 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup on Thursday, July 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It was Fajardo who first made his presence felt, throwing his weight around the paint before Cruz delivered the telling blows in the huge third quarter explosion for the Beermen to log their seventh win in eight games and give its bid for the Top 2 spot a huge boost.

Cruz reset his career-high to 30 points on a 12-of-20 clip from the field while Fajardo posted 30 points and 16 rebounds . CJ Perez orchestrated the attack for the Beermen with 12 points and 10 assists while Rodney Brondial had a double-double of 12 points and 18 boards.

“This is very important for any team yung role of the players especially off the bench and there are players in the last three games namin stepping up,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria. 

“This is the most important game in the elimination because this will determine our fate in the elimination because we’re looking for the one and two spots. Right now, we’re doing good, hopefully we can sustain it and we try to avoid any complication regading the tie, getting into the top two,” he added. 

Kelly Williams and Jayson Castro paced TNT with 20 and 17 points respectively but only got 11 points from Mikey Williams who was obviously bothered by the SMB defense with his measly 3-of-14 clip from the field.

Ahead only by two, 61-59, early in the third frame, San Miguel stepped its foot on the gas pedal as it went on a 12-4 run to create the first double-digit spread of the match at 73-63. TNT had four unanswered points but Cruz, who scored 16 of his total during that quarter, retaliated with a 9-2 personal run to establish a 13-point advantage, 82-69.

It was all Beermen from that point as guys like Brondial, Fajardo and Simon Enciso all followed suit in the final frame further padding the lead to its highest at 19, 107-88 with 3:51 left in the game.

TNT, for its part saw its five-game winning streak get halted as the Tropang Giga dropped to a 7-3 record in the standings.

CONVERGE WINS

Meantime, David Murrell and Tyrus Hill combined in a huge second half attack as Converge destroyed NLEX, 112-108.

Murrell and Hill spearheaded the FiberXers who unleashed a back-breaking 15-3 run to open the final frame and create the separation to notch their third win in eight games and give their bid for playoff spot a much-needed boost.

Murrell finished with 21 points on an efficient 10-of-14 clip from the field while Hill added 18 points and a couple of highlight plays along with seven rebounds.

Converge also got solid contributions from Taylor Browne who scored all of his 15 points in the second half and Justin Arana who gave the FiberXers a huge lift in the final frame with 11 fourth quarter points.

FiberXers head coach Jeff Cariaso lauded his players for their response now that they need to string some victories to keep their playoff fate within their hands.

The scores:

First Game
CONVERGE 112 – Murrell 21, Hill 18, Browne 15, Arana 11, Ahanmisi 10, Adamos 9, Tratter 8, Ambohot 7, Bulanadi 4, DiGregorio 3, Racal 3, Ilagan 3, Tolomia 0, Stockton 0.
NLEX 108 – Rosales 29, Alas 23, Trollano 18, Chua 15, Oftana 12, Quinahan 4,Paniamogan 3, Fonacier 2, Magat 2, Semerad 0, Soyud 0, Ighalo 0.
Quarters: 19-15, 46-38, 77-76, 112-108.

Second Game
SAN MIGUEL 115 – Fajardo 30, Cruz 30, Enciso 16, Perez 12, Brondial 12, Herndon 5, Tautuaa 5, Lassiter 3, Zamar 2 Caneto 0, Pessumal 0, Faundo 0.

TNT 99 – K. Williams 20, Castro 17, Erram 12, Montalbo 12 M. Williams 11, Pogoy 11, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, Tungcab 3, Alejandro 3, Cruz 0, Banal 0, Marcelo 0.

Quarters: 26-22, 53-47, 83-71, 115-99

Cruz shines with career-best outing, powers SMB past TNT

By REYNALD MAGALLON

San Miguel Beer came alive in the second half as Jericho Cruz and June Mar Fajardo took turns in punishing TNT to claim a 115-99 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup on Thursday, July 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It was Fajardo who first made his presence felt, throwing his weight around the paint before Cruz delivered the telling blows in the huge third quarter explosion for the Beermen to log their seventh win in eight games and give its bid for the Top 2 spot a huge boost.

Cruz reset his career-high to 30 points on a 12-of-20 clip from the field while Fajardo posted 30 points and 16 rebounds . CJ Perez orchestrated the attack for the Beermen with 12 points and 10 assists while Rodney Brondial had a double-double of 12 points and 18 boards.

“This is very important for any team yung role of the players especially off the bench and there are players in the last three games namin stepping up,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria. 

“This is the most important game in the elimination because this will determine our fate in the elimination because we’re looking for the one and two spots. Right now, we’re doing good, hopefully we can sustain it and we try to avoid any complication regading the tie, getting into the top two,” he added. 

Kelly Williams and Jayson Castro paced TNT with 20 and 17 points respectively but only got 11 points from Mikey Williams who was obviously bothered by the SMB defense with his measly 3-of-14 clip from the field.

Ahead only by two, 61-59, early in the third frame, San Miguel stepped its foot on the gas pedal as it went on a 12-4 run to create the first double-digit spread of the match at 73-63. TNT had four unanswered points but Cruz, who scored 16 of his total during that quarter, retaliated with a 9-2 personal run to establish a 13-point advantage, 82-69.

It was all Beermen from that point as guys like Brondial, Fajardo and Simon Enciso all followed suit in the final frame further padding the lead to its highest at 19, 107-88 with 3:51 left in the game.

TNT, for its part saw its five-game winning streak get halted as the Tropang Giga dropped to a 7-3 record in the standings.

CONVERGE WINS

Meantime, David Murrell and Tyrus Hill combined in a huge second half attack as Converge destroyed NLEX, 112-108.

Murrell and Hill spearheaded the FiberXers who unleashed a back-breaking 15-3 run to open the final frame and create the separation to notch their third win in eight games and give their bid for playoff spot a much-needed boost.

Murrell finished with 21 points on an efficient 10-of-14 clip from the field while Hill added 18 points and a couple of highlight plays along with seven rebounds.

Converge also got solid contributions from Taylor Browne who scored all of his 15 points in the second half and Justin Arana who gave the FiberXers a huge lift in the final frame with 11 fourth quarter points.

FiberXers head coach Jeff Cariaso lauded his players for their response now that they need to string some victories to keep their playoff fate within their hands.

The scores:

First Game
CONVERGE 112 – Murrell 21, Hill 18, Browne 15, Arana 11, Ahanmisi 10, Adamos 9, Tratter 8, Ambohot 7, Bulanadi 4, DiGregorio 3, Racal 3, Ilagan 3, Tolomia 0, Stockton 0.
NLEX 108 – Rosales 29, Alas 23, Trollano 18, Chua 15, Oftana 12, Quinahan 4,Paniamogan 3, Fonacier 2, Magat 2, Semerad 0, Soyud 0, Ighalo 0.
Quarters: 19-15, 46-38, 77-76, 112-108.

Second Game
SAN MIGUEL 115 – Fajardo 30, Cruz 30, Enciso 16, Perez 12, Brondial 12, Herndon 5, Tautuaa 5, Lassiter 3, Zamar 2 Caneto 0, Pessumal 0, Faundo 0.

TNT 99 – K. Williams 20, Castro 17, Erram 12, Montalbo 12 M. Williams 11, Pogoy 11, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, Tungcab 3, Alejandro 3, Cruz 0, Banal 0, Marcelo 0.

Quarters: 26-22, 53-47, 83-71, 115-99