By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer sent Meralco crashing back to earth with a dominant 121-97 victory to gain a headstart in their best-of-seven semifinals showdown in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday, Aug 3.
The Bolts, still in euphoria after eliminating the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings in the quarterfinals, were given a harsh reality check by the inspired Beermen led by CJ Perez and Rodney Brondial.
Perez was extra hot, dropping 10 of his 25 points right on the first quarter alone while Brondial took the spotlight from his more seasoned frontline partners June Mar Fajardo, Vic Manuel and Mo Tautuaa after contributing a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds.
SMB head coach Leo Austria revealed that he was surprised with the showing of the team considering their history against Meralco which had their numbers in their last two playoff meetings.
“Talagang na-surprise kami sa performance ng mga player kasi talagang kapag Meralco maraming beses kami pinahiya nila, during the bubble, twice-to-beat kami, tinalo kami and then last conference, quarterfinals na-eliminate kami sa kanila,” said Austria.
“It’s very important for us to win the first game especially in a series whatever series yan best-of-three, best-of-five, or best-of seven. Winning first game helps a lot sa pagbigay confidence,” he added.
Manuel also showed flashes of his old, efficient form finishing with 16 points in just 17 minutes of play while Fajardo added 11 points.
The Beermen came through with a blazing 11-0 run to end the opening frame which proved huge enough to control the game albeit repeated rallies by the Bolts.
Chris Banchero led the way for the Bolts with 17 points while Raymond Almazan added 16. Noticeably missing in action for Meralco however were the trio of Chris Newsome, Aaron Black and Allein Maliksi who only mustered a combined output of 19 points.
Meantime, Mikey Williams put up another jaw-dropping performance as TNT thumped Magnolia, 108-96, to draw first blood in their own best-of-seven semifinals duel.
Williams fired 18 of his 26 points in the first half as the Tropang Giga stamped their class in the first two quarters to build a sizeable margin which they enjoyed and protected the rest of the way.
A 15-5 start for TNT set the tone for the romp before Williams went on a scoring spree in the second quarter, allowing TNT to build a commanding 54-37 lead at the half.
TNT head coach Chot Reyes was pleased to see his wards find their marks on the offensive end, something he credited to their efforts in limiting their turnovers.
“This is just one win. We’re playing for a long series. Whether it’s high scoring or not, our focus is to really get good shots and not to turn the ball over because Magnolia in transition is deadly,” said Reyes.
“We were able to make sure we got good attempts and not have live ball turnovers. Whether that resolves to a high scoring ball game or not, really depends on a lot of factors but for us we need to make sure that we don’t turn the ball over too much against this team,” he added.
Williams shot 4-of-8 from the rainbow territory while adding five rebounds, four assists and a steal. RR Pogoy backed him up with 23 points, 15 of which he unloaded during the second half when the Tropang Giga built the largest lead of the game at 24, 84-60 after a Jayson Castro layup with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
First Game
TNT 108 – M. Williams 26, Pogoy 23, Khobuntin 18, Castro 12, Montalbo 8, Erram 6, K.Williams 4, Marcelo 4, Tungcab 3, Rosario 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Alejandro 0, Cruz 0.
MAGNOLIA 96 – Sangalang 14, Abueva 18, Jalalon 14, Dionisio 14, Laput 12, Lee 9, Barroca 7, Dela Rosa 5, Wong 2, Reavis 1, Zaldivar 0, Corpuz 0.
QUARTERS: 28-19, 54-37, 86-66, 108-96.
Second Game
SAN MIGUEL 121 – Perez 25, Brondial 20, Manuel 16, Fajardo 11, Lassiter 10, Cruz 9, Tautuaa 8, Enciso 8, Herndon 7, Pessumal 5, Ross 2.
MERALCO 97 –Banchero 17, Almazan 16, Kose 12, Hodge 11, Newsome 9, Quinto 9, Pascual 9, Black 8, Caram 4, Maliksi 2, Belo 0, Pasaol 0, Baclao 0.
QUARTERS: 33-17, 60-41, 85-64, 121-97.
