MANILA – San Miguel Beermen advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) Philippine Cup after beating NorthPort Batang Pier, 100-95, in Game 2 on Thursday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Jaymar Perez top-scored with 21 points, while Moala Tautuaa added 17 markers as the Beermen set up a best-of-seven semifinals encounter with the TNT Tropang Giga.
Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo tallied 15 and 12 points, respectively, while Chris Ross, Arwind Santos, and Terrence Romeo ended with 11 points each for SMB.
“We all know that it will not be an easy game so, I asked our players to take this game seriously,” said Beermen Leo Austria. “We want to make the semis outright and wanted to avoid a do-or-die game with NorthPort.”
The Beermen fumbled with their shots early before gaining control in the second period on Perez attacks and Fajardo inside conversions for a 46-39 halftime advantage over the Batang Pier.
The Beermen increased their lead to 13 points following a triple by Romeo in the third canto, but the Batang Pier recovered to within 91-96 on a Gregory Slaughter hit.
NorthPort pulled even closer at 93-97 on another Slaughter conversion, but free throws by Ross and Lassiter stretched San Miguel Beer’s gap to 100-93 with 20 seconds remaining.
Slaughter finished with a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds, Jamie Malonzo chipped in 17 markers, while Sidney Onwubere and Robert Bolick Jr. got 14 and 12, respectively, as the Batang Pier bows out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, sister-teams Meralco Bolts and NLEX Road Warriors will compete for a semifinals spot today at 6 p.m. in a must-win quarterfinals game.
The Road Warriors extended their series to a winner-take-all game after an 81-80 victory over the Bolts on Wednesday afternoon behind the go-ahead layup of rookie Calvin Oftana.
Meralco only needs to win once in their quarterfinals series against the Road Warriors due to their twice-to-beat incentive for finishing second in the eliminations.
BOX SCORE:
SAN MIGUEL 100 – Perez 21, Tautuaa 17, Lassiter 15, Fajardo 12, Santos 11, Romeo 11, Ross 11, Cabagnot 2, Pessumal 0.
NORTHPORT 95 – Slaughter 27, Malonzo 17, Onwubere 14, Bolick 12, Taha 9, Balanza 8, Rike 5, Doliguez 3, Ferrer 0, Elorde 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
17-19, 46-39, 74-66, 100-95./PN
