Wilkerson sparks Beermen victory

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ANTIPOLO CITY—Tyler Wilkerson is not just a relentless scorer but a sparkplug as well.

The prolific import nailed successive treys to key a San Miguel Beer run then joined hands with June Mar Fajardo in controlling the paint to lead the Beermen to a 108-96 rout of Blackwater Wednesday night in the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Ynares Center.

The 6-foot-8 Wilkerson pushed the Beermen to a 16-point lead with his fourth triple of the night early in the third period, a deficit the Elite could not crawl out of.

It was all a matter of sustaining the pace for San Miguel from thereon as Fajardo and Wilkerson asserted themselves while Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos helped prevent the Elite from mounting a late charge.

“We’re lucky to have an import like Tyler, but there are things that we still need to improve on,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria after the Beermen notched their second win in three games.

Fajardo, far from tip-top shape due to a bruised knee, still delivered with 20 points on seven-of-14 shooting and had seven rebounds.

Coming off an explosive 52-point performance against GlobalPort, Wilkerson’s chain of threes gave the Beermen a 58-42 lead en route to finishing with 35 points on top of 17 rebounds and four blocks.

So far, Wilkerson and Fajardo have become human wrecking balls in San Miguel’s two victories.

Against Blackwater’s small frontline, both men exploited every mismatch.

MJ Rhett, who fired 30 points and had 21 rebounds for the Elite in a recent defeat to Star, was a shadow of his deadly self, producing only 12 points on four-of-12 field goals.

Carlo Lastimosa, Blackwater’s new take-charge guy, shot six of 22 attempts against San Miguel’s defense to finish with 16 points as the Elite, fell to their third defeat in five games.

The scores:

First Game

SAN MIGUEL 108—Wilkerson 35, Fajardo 20, Cabagnot 13, Lassiter 11, Santos 9, Espinas 6, Lutz 4, Araña 2, Heruela 2, Mabulac 2, Reyes 2, Ross 2, De Ocampo 0, Semerad 0.

BLACKWATER 96—Erram 16, Lastimosa 16, Cervantes 12, Rhett 12, Reyes 11, Dela Cruz 10, Gamalinda 9, Tiongson 6, Sena 2, Vosotros 2, Golla 0.

Quarters: 18-17, 46-39, 80-57, 108-96