San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent during a PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals game against Converge FiberXers. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—With Converge staring down the barrel of elimination, San Miguel Beer coach Jorge Gallent knows that Game 3 will be anything but a cakewalk.
The Beermen took the commanding 2-0 lead over Converge in the best-of-five quarterfinals of the PBA Governors’ Cup on Saturday at Araneta Coliseum in another closely called game.
The Beermen moved just a game away from being the first team to secure a semifinal berth but if you ask Gallent, his team has no reason to even think of a sweep.
SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals
Especially not against a Converge team which virtually has nothing to lose.
“I’m sure they’ll come out strong heading to Monday’s game,” said Gallent following their 107-100 win over the FiberXers in Game 2.
“We just have to stay focused, bring our energy and not think of that 2-0 lead. We have to think it’s a do-or-die game so that we don’t relax, we come out strong and play for 48 minutes.”
SMB import EJ Anosike served as the squad’s biggest contributor with a game-high 41 points and nine rebounds.
Besides Anosike, the locals also heeded Gallent’s call of staying composed as reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo unsurprisingly notched another double-double of 15 points and 16 rebounds.
San Miguel guard Kris Rosales during a a PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals game against Converge FiberXers. –PBA IMAGES
Even Kris Rosales, who came off the bench, showed his worth to SMB in Game 2 with 11 points and five assists. He also picked up the slack on the backcourt as CJ Perez struggled for just 10 points, sinking just four of his 11 tries from the field.
READ: PBA: San Miguel nears semifinals, repeats over Converge
Even though almost all locals clicked at the right time for the Beermen, they still could not dominate Converge as much as they wanted to.
“Converge is a strong team,” emphasized Gallent.
Jalen Jones finished with 36 points and 12 rebounds to help the FiberXers match up against San Miguel in an effort to tie the best-of-five showdown to no avail.
While the luck of the bold looks to be headed the Beermen’s way, Gallent knows his teams to put on an overall better performance to knock Converge out for good.
“They have a good import but we’ve just been better in the last minutes of the ballgame which is good and that’s why we’re winning,” Gallent said.
“Our composure is always there coming into the end game. Even if we’re up or down a little, at least the composure’s there.”