Beermen make it 3 over Patriots
DUKE Crews put up a dunking show to underline a dominant performance that propelled the San Miguel Beermen past the AirAsia Philippine Patriots, 93-78, last night in the Asean Basketball League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Playing only his third game for San Miguel, the 6-foot-6 import looked tailor-fit for the Beermen, finishing with 23 points, mostly on slams in the third quarter when the Beermen started pulling away en route to their 13th win in 17 games.
More importantly, the Beermen sealed their place in the semifinals in their first season in the league and sent a chilling message to the Patriots heading into the playoffs.
The Beermen swept their three games against the Patriots this season, but the 15-point victory was the most convincing. San Miguel won its second meeting, 68-66, in a game marred by a bench-clearing brawl last March 4.
“We’re starting to jell together now but we’re still a long way to go,” said San Miguel coach Bobby Parks, noting that their other import Nick Fazekas played only his second game for the Beermen and guard Chris Banchero only made his debut.
Leo Avenido, the most consistent San Miguel local, nailed back-to-back treys to spark the third-quarter run that enabled the Beermen to pull away, 79-62, heading into the last five minutes.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 93—Crews 23, Avenido 23 Fazekas 16, Banchero 11, Fernandez 8, Fajardo 5, Yap 3, Dimaunuhan 3, Cabatu 1, Ferriols 0, Gonzales 0.
AIRASIA PATRIOTS 78—Johnson 30, Alexander 16, Larong 9, Ybanez 6, Adriano 5, Fernandez 4, Laure 3, Wainwright 2, Raymundo 2, Ramos 1, Arellano 0, Saldua 0.
Quarters: 22-18, 47-37, 64-55, 93-78
