Beermen shoot for win No.4 against Road Warriors

Unbeaten frontrunner San Miguel Beer shoots for win No. 4 versus NLEX and its prized rookie Kiefer Ravena while GlobalPort seeks a follow-up on its breakthrough win the last time out as it goes up against Blackwater in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome tonight.

The lone remaining team with a perfect slate, the Beermen hope to keep their hot season start though they brace for a tough challenge versus the NLEX side aching to bounce back from a sorry loss to Magnolia Sunday.

The Beermen and the Road Warriors clash at 7 p.m. after the equally exciting faceoff between the Batang Pier and the Elite at 4:30 p.m.

Blackwater claimed stirring triumphs over Rain or Shine (92-87) and Barangay Ginebra (94-77), but GlobalPort – after a 0-2 start – has also got on the winning track with a 78-70 toppling of ROS.

NLEX and Blackwater are in a heavy six-way logjam at fourth place with Alaska Milk, Phoenix Petroleum, Rain or Shine and TNT KaTropa at 2-2 while GlobalPort is halfgame behind at 1-2.

As the solo leader at 30, the Beermen are determined to pile up as many wins they can in chase of a prime spot in the playoffs.

“We hope to sustain the head start we’ve got,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria looking for another win to add to earlier victories over the Fuel Masters (104-96), the Meralco Bolts (103-97) and the Texters (88-76).

Their triumph over TNT in a road game in Iloilo was special as they got tremendous boost from players outside of their Magnificent Five of June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross.

The Texters took control majority of the way, and the Beermen needed to lean on reserves Brian Heruela and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser to turn things around in the fourth quarter.

Rosser, up against his former team, turned in eight points, five rebounds and three assists while Heruela came through five markers, three boards and two dishoffs in lighting up SMB’s fightback.

Meanwhile, NLEX coach Yeng Guiao rued their team too much dependence on their prized rookie in their 94-105 loss to Magnolia Sunday.

Ravena came up with 31 assists, five assists, four rebounds and four steals in a virtuoso performance that went down the drain.

“Kiefer played a great game offensively, but that’s not our style of play. We don’t want one player to take over the game offensively and try to bring us or carry us on his shoulders for us to win,” said Guiao.

“With our system, we always won more games when more people got involved and more people scored in double figures,” Guiao said. “Kiefer played a great game offensively but he did not get enough support from the rest of the team.”

-Philippine STAR News Service