By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer broke out of its five-game slump, routing fellow struggling team TNT, 111-74, in the PBA on Tour at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Friday, July 7.
The Beermen finally regained their winning form with Marvin Lee, Allyn Bulanadi and Jericho Cruz all joining hands to pick up the cudgels for SMB which greatly struggled in the pre-season exhibition games in the absence of its star players.
It was Cruz and Lee who got things going for SMB, anchoring their strong first half that saw them take a lead that went to as many as 19 points in the second quarter.
TNT just never recovered from there as SMB cruised to the convincing win that gave its third victory against six losses for an unusual 11th place in the standings so far.
Cruz dropped 16 of his 20 points in the first half but he hit the showers as early as the third quarter after getting assessed by a flagrant foul penalty two infraction. Cruz got into a scuffle with TNT’s Paul Varilla after they got entangled during a play for the loose ball.
Cruz then appeared to have hit Varilla with his knee which resulted in him getting thrown out with still 3:58 left in the period and with the Beermen still comfortably ahead, 67-50.
The Beermen didn’t let the momentum swing to the other side with Bulanadi and Lee taking turns in the final stretch of the match, even extending the lead to their largest at 41, 102-61.
Lee actually led the way for SMB with 22 points built on five triples while Bulanadi added 20. Rodney Brondial also held the fort with a solid double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Meantime, Converge leaned on a huge fourth quarter showing to put away a hard-fighting Phoenix, 104-90, and get back on the winning track.
The FiberXers unloaded a back-breaking 20-6 run that turned a tight 74-70 lead into a big 94-76 advantage in the final frame which ultimately took the fight out of the Fuel Masters who kept within striking distance despite the hot shooting from Converge.
PBA aspirant Jolo Mendoza proved he belongs to the big league, leading the way for Converge with 26 points – 21 of which he fired in the first two quarters – and built on seven triples.
With Mendoza, however, cooling down in the second half, it was the relentless defense of the Fiberxers and an equally efficient execution on the other end that sparked the telling run.
Mike Nieto capped the run with a layup as the FiberXers went on to lead by as many as 18 points. He finished with 20 points and nine rebounds while Alec Stockton orchestrated the attack and flirted with a triple-double with 15 assists apart from nine points and 10 rebounds.