Rampaging Beermen

June Mar Fajardo explodes for San Miguel. PBA IMAGES

All San Miguel Beer needed was a whiff of a playoff bonus to stir the defending champions into a frenzy.

The Beermen went on a blazing start then cruised the rest of the way to forge a 121-111 victory over NLEX Friday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A shot at the top two, which offers teams there the twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals, stoked San Miguel Beer’s fire as it manhandled the Road Warriors on the way to its fifth win in eight games.

“I’m so happy tonight for that win. But we’re still aiming for one of the top two slots,” said Beermen coach Leo Austria. San Miguel doesn’t have the incentive within reach just yet. But, Austria said, “the chance is still there.”

NorthPort, meanwhile, was one possession away from erasing the memory of a previous painful defeat. Then, somehow, it all slipped away—literally.

It was enough to allow Meralco coach Norman Black to let out a sigh on Friday night, although, understandably, it took a while for him to do so.

After all, Meralco escaped what looked like imminent defeat and held off hard-luck NorthPort, 126-123, in double overtime to finally arrest a three-game skid and continue nursing hope for a playoff spot.

A quick double on Sean Anthony with six seconds remaining resulted in the ball slipping away from the NorthPort big man’s hand. It was a cruel trick by fate on Anthony, whose potential game-winning triple in the Batang Pier’s last game—against Phoenix—was waved off when he was whistled for an offensive foul that the league later admitted was wrong.

But instead of watching what went around come around, Anthony lost possession with a little over three seconds remaining, and Meralco capitalized with an alley-oop off the inbounds to Chris Newsome, who tied the game at 106 to forge the first overtime.