By REYNALD MAGALLON
Chris Ross and CJ Perez nailed a pair of dagger triples as San Miguel asserted its mastery over Magnolia with a 98-92 victory in their first meeting since the last conference’s finals in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, April 26.
With the Hotshots threatening to complete their comeback from 20 points down, Ross drained a booming triple off a kick-out pass from June Mar Fajardo before finding a wide open CJ Perez who then buried another trey on the next possession to slam the door on Magnolia’s comeback.
The Beermen kept their record pristine through eight games but, more importantly, closed in on one of the coveted Top 2 spots which merit a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
The Hotshots, on the other hand, saw their four-game winning run snapped to fall to a 5-3 record in tie at the third spot with idle NLEX Road Warriors.
Perez led the way for SMB with 25 points but it was Ross who proved to be the difference, firing away 15 points, all of which coming from the three-point territory after just averaging 2.3 points in the Beermen’s first seven games.
Magnolia, which was forced to pick its poison between San Miguel’s dominant inside offense or the Beermen’s hot shooting from deep, paid dearly as they focused on clogging the paint to limit the touches of Fajardo.
While the Hotshots did succeed in making it difficult for Fajardo who only finished with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists, it was the Beermen’s gunner who feasted as they drilled a total of 16 treys.
Meantime, Meralco repulsed a hard-fighting Phoenix side, 82-76, to pump some life to its playoff hopes.
Chris Banchero nailed a dagger jumper with 22.8 seconds left before Bong Quinto put on the finishing touches from the foul line to push the Bolts inside the playoff picture heading into the final stretch of the eliminations.
Meralco picked up a much-needed win after a loss to Converge that suddenly put its quarterfinals chances hanging in the balance the last time out.
The Bolts got everything on track with the victory as they improved to a 4-5 record, enough to get into the eighth spot with two games left in their schedule.
The Fuel Masters, on the other hand, after a confidence-boosting win over the NLEX Road Warriors last week, have now absorbed two straight defeats that seemingly dimmed their chances of advancing to the next round after skidding to 3-7 record at the 11th spot.
Phoenix now hopes that no one from Meralco and NorthPort pick up a victory to get a chance of at least a playoff for the last and final spot.
Aaron Black led the charge for Meralco with 18 points – eight of which he poured during a 15-2 run that turned a 44-38 deficit into a 46-53 advantage in the third frame.
