SAN Miguel Beer is on a mini winning run, triggering its steady rise in the standings.
Thus, you can say that the defending champion Beermen are on a roll after scoring their third straight win via a 96-90 victory over the much-improved Converge on Sunday at the Ynares Center, up there in the Antipolo mountains.
SMB struggled somewhat at the start, falling behind by 12 points amid Converge’s vicious hot shooting backed up by a stifling defense.
But after finding its rhythm in the third quarter behind a solid play by second stringers Kris Rosales, newcomer guard Chris Miller, Jeron Teng and JM Calma, San Miguel roared all the more in the fourth to win running away.
Rosales played so well as if to prove that his sterling performance in SMB’s win over sister team Barangay Ginebra in Dubai the week before was no fluke, embellishing his excellent quarterbacking with six points and three assists.
Also a key in SMB’s third straight victory after an anemic 0-2 start was the virtual shackling of Juan Gomez de Liano, limiting the super rookie to a tournament low of eight points on 2-of-10 shooting that forced Converge coach Delta Pineda to bench him in the final minutes of the game.
“That was what I was expecting from the bench after they did so well in Dubai,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.
Converge practically had only three men playing all out, with Schonny Winston topscoring with 20 points, Justin Arana 19 points and big man Justin Baltazar delivering a double-double of 14 points and 19 rebounds to go with five steals.
The loss pulled the FiberXers down to 3-2 in a tie with the Beermen — still good for both teams to stay in the upper crust of the standings of the PBA Philippine Cup won the last time out by SMB.
June Mar Fajardo bucked a hurting toe to post 24 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocks for San Miguel, with CJ Perez adding 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
But the biggest Beerman for the night was Juami Tiongson, who unloaded all of his 14 points in the fourth quarter that helped build a huge cushion to nullify Converge’s comeback attempts.
Now that SMB seems settled down, I won’t be surprised if it beats Magnolia on Friday at Ynares Center, this time in Rodriguez, Rizal.
My ice-cold beer can’t wait.