Coach Leo Austria. NUKI SABIO/PBA
MANILA, Philippines—It’s a beer run.
Determined to take the hardware this conference, the San Miguel Beermen crushed the Talk N’ Text Tropang Texters, 109-86 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena Friday evening.
San Miguel had the opportune chance as they capitalized on the paltry 7 percent shooting of Talk N’ Text in the second quarter.
Sensing that Talk N’ Text would be down for the count, the Beermen went on a drunken rampage with a 32-6 intoxication across the second and third quarters that put the game at 66-40.
And San Miguel would never look back.
Even with the thrashing, Beermen head coach Leo Austria said he was surprised with the outcome, especially during the playoffs.
“I was surprised because I thought na it will be a close game,” Austria said. “They had a good start and I thought that this was going to be a problem.”
San Miguel, despite Talk N’ Text reeling, stepped on the gas pedal late and mounted a 101-68 lead late in the game.
Even on his first game, Austria was poised for his first playoffs match in the big leagues.
“They expected a lot of things from our team and I’m happy ‘cause we got the win against Talk ‘N Text,” Austria said. “We’re lucky because we lost to them in the eliminations, and that might have been a good thing because we’re awakened.”
Arwind Santos was on a different level with 21 points, eight rebounds and two blocks with 2014 Most Valuable Player Junemar Fajardo adding asserting his will with 23 points for San Miguel.
Ranidel de Ocampo led Talk N’ Text with 20.
Box scores:
SAN MIGUEL109 – Fajardo 23, Santos 21, Cabagnot 13, Lassiter 10, Lutz 7, Tubid 7, Pascual 6, Kramer 5, Semerad 5, Fortuna 4, Omolon 4, Maierhofer 2, Chua 2, Ross 0.
TALK N’ TEXT 86 – De Ocampo 20, Seigle 16, Washington 9, Alapag 7, Rosser 7, Castro 6, Alas 5, Espiritu 5, Williams 4, Carey 3, Fonacier 3, Reyes R.J. 1, Reyes R. 0, Aban 0.