Beermen smother Gin Kings
ACE GUARDS IN FOCUS AS MAGNOLIA, NLEX CLASH
San Miguel Beer played an uptempo game almost throughout and pulled off a dominant 102-90 victory over a Barangay Ginebra side feeling the inroads of fatigue in Game One of their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Beermen leaned on their backcourt players to ease the scoring load on June Mar Fajardo and beat the Gin Kings on fastbreak points heavily for the relatively easy win that underscored their bid for a shot at a “four-peat” in the all-Filipino tourney.
Arwind Santos top scored with 23 points while Von Pessumal had his breakout game as a Beerman, coming through with 4-of-5 three-pointers and a total of 18 points as SMB got to an auspicious start in the race-to-fourgames series.
Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot also churned out double-digit outputs with 17 and 15 points, respectively, helping lead the way for the Beermen as Fajardo bore the brunt of Ginebra’s helping defense.
Greg Slaughter still failed to see action for Ginebra, which played its fourth game in eight nights.
But SMB coach Leo Austria isn’t about to take the crowd favorites for granted, especially with the expected return of Slaughter in their next game.
“We can’t rest on our laurels. We know Ginebra was playing well before this game and they just probably got tired playing a fourth game in eight days,” said Austria.
The two teams square off in Game Two at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, also at the Big Dome.
Meanwhile, Magnolia resumes its chase for a first final since its grand slam run in 2014 while NLEX hopes to go another level following its breakthrough run as they begin their side of the semis tonight, also at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. in a series that features explosive showdowns at the backcourt with Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Jio Jalalon, Justin Melton and PJ Simon tipped to lead the way for the Hotshots, and Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, Larry Fonacier, Alex Mallari and Juami Tiongson to take charge for the Road Warriors.
Santos outclassed all the defenders thrown at him, going 9-of-14 from the field while collecting eight rebounds and three assists against two turnovers.
The scores:
San Miguel 102 – Santos 23, Pessumal 18, Lassiter 17, Cabagnot 15, Fajardo 9, Ganuelas-Rosser 8, Ross 6, Heruela 4, Espinas 2, Mamaril 0, Vigil 0, Semerad 0, De Ocampo 0.
Barangay Ginebra 90 – Mercado 17, Thompson 17, J. Aguilar 17, Mariano 12, Caperal 8, Tenorio 6, Ferrer 5, Cruz 4, Devance 4, Manuel 0, R. Aguilar 0, Taha 0.
Quarterscores: 26-20, 50-41, 78-63, 102-90