San Miguel cruises past TNT for 4th straight PBA PHL Cup win

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The San Miguel Beermen proved to be too much and overpowered their rival squad TNT Tropang Giga, 115-99, for their fourth-straight win in the ongoing 2022 PBA Philippine Cup.

With the big-time win, San Miguel officially punched their ticket to the tournament quarterfinals and clinched solo top spot honors with a 7-1 win-loss record.

Aside from a quarterfinal qualification, the Beermen also ended Tropang Giga’s five-game winning streak and dealt them their first-ever blowout loss in the 2022 Philippine Cup.

After a tightly-contested first half, San Miguel immediately flipped the switch and outscored the Tropang Giga in the last two quarters, 62-52.

PBA’s six-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) June Mar Fajardo had another monster game and was unstoppable against TNT with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

Meanwhile, two-way guard and one of San Miguel’s newly-acquired players, Jericho Cruz, backstopped Fajardo with a 30-point masterpiece.

Both teams weren’t able to grab full control of the game in the first two quarters and engaged in a back-and-forth affair as TNT always answered San Miguel’s scoring run.

However, the Beermen began to pull away and extended their lead to double-digits in the last two minutes of the third quarter, 82-69, spearheaded by Cruz’s personal 8-2 run.

TNT attempted to claw their way back in the first four minutes of the final canto after head coach Chot Reyes decided to put an all-defensive team on the court to contain the San Miguel offense but wasn’t enough to get the job done.

The Beermen even topped their third-quarter scoring and were unconscious from the field, extending their lead to 19 points, 107-88.

TNT never cut the lead to single digits and adding to their woes was Mikey Williams’ poor shooting night on 3/14 shooting and only managed to score 11 points.

The Tropang Giga will aim to bounce back and improve their standing to 8-3 as they take on the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel tomorrow.