San Miguel Beer guard CJ Perez.–PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–San Miguel played relentless pace right from the jump on Sunday night, blowing NorthPort to smithereens, 120-100, to stay perfect in the PBA Philippine Cup while officially punching a ticket to the playoff round.
It took the mighty Beermen, defending champions of the conference, a little over two-and-a-half quarters to reach the century mark and snuff the fight out of the Batang Pier even with plenty of basketball left to play at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
CJ Perez led the way with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists, five other Beermen chipped in at least 10 more points in the blowout that gave the powerhouse crew its 7th win straight in the conference.
SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Philippine Cup
“[Whenever] San Miguel shares the basketball, we’re a great team,” said head coach Jorge Gallent, whose charges registered 31 assists, and enjoyed leads as big as 39 points even with a man short without tested sparkplug Jericho Cruz, who is sidelined by an injury.
In the win, Marcio Lassiter also hit four triples, the first effectively putting him at No. 4 spot of the league’s all-time list for threes made, bumping off two-time Most Valuable Player and Blackwater guard James Yap.
Arvin Tolentino finished with 26 points, while rookie Zav Lucero, Joshua Munzon and Allyn Bulanadi each chipped in twin-digit scores in the losing stand that saw the Batang Pier slide to a 4-5 win-loss record in the race.
San Miguel will try to further its winning ways when it goes up against sister team Magnolia, which is on a four-game win streak, on April 26.
NorthPort, still well in the fight for a playoff spot, battles Terrafirma next in a match slated for April 24.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 120 – Perez 29, Tautuaa 15, Lassiter 14, Trollano 13, Fajardo 12, Teng 10, Enciso 9, Brondial 8, Ross 6, Romeo 4, Mallilin 0
NORTHPORT 100 – Tolentino 26, Lucero 10, Bulanadi 10, Cuntapay 9, Zamar 8, Adamos 4, Flores 4, Amores 4, Rosales 3, Taha 3, Paraiso 3, Yu 2, Chan 2, Navarro 2
Quarterscores: 36-27, 72-47, 105-71, 120-100.