San Miguel Beer did not need a big game from June Mar Fajardo.
With the rest of the Beermen clicking on all cylinders, the defending champions pounced on a battle-weary Barangay Ginebra for an emphatic 102-90 victory Friday night to grab the headstart in their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen turned the duel into a one-sided affair as Arwind Santos led a balanced assault for coach Leo Austria’s charges, who turned up the heat early on a Ginebra team that was playing its fourth game in a week.
“I think its very important to win the first game in a series,” said Austria. “We’ll have a better chance (of winning the series), but we cannot rest on our laurels because we all know that Ginebra was playing well before this game.”
Santos had 23 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc, while sophomore Von Pessumal delivered a breakout performance with a career-best 18 points, including four treys, as the Beermen dished out a conference-high 34 assists.
Fajardo took just five shots and finished with nine points in just 30 minutes as he made the Gin Kings pay for sagging the paint by constantly finding the Beermen’s gunners, who found their range and combined for 16-of-34 from beyond the arc.
“They were sagging on June Mar and it was a good thing he became a facilitator,” said Austria. “The players deserved a lot of credit because they’ve been focused. They’re very determined.”
The Gin Kings, who needed to beat Rain or Shine three times in the past week to reach the semifinals, trailed by as many as 19 points, the last at 64-45 on Santos’ triple in the third period. They never got closer than 12 the rest of the way as the Beermen found a response with each uprising.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone thinks his team can still play better as the series goes along. Game 2 is on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I think physically we were there but mentally we were a step slow,” said Cone, whose squad had 25 turnovers. “We weren’t reacting quickly. We had three gruelling games against ROS and I think that it just caught up with us tonight.”
Cone said 7-foot center Greg Slaughter’s status remains day-to-day as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Slaughter has missed Ginebra’s last four games.