By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The San Miguel Beermen extended its undefeated streak to five wins after taking down the Meralco Bolts, 96-84, during the ongoing PBA Governor’s Cup last February 9, 2023, held at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
It was a solid bounce back from the Beermen after starting the first quarter slow, failing to score a single bucket in the first two minutes of action.
The Bolts found early success with their patient and disciplined perimeter defense while taking advantage of fast break situations to quickly put up scores on the board.
CJ Perez finally ended San Miguel’s shooting woes when he soared for a deuce in the ninth-minute mark of the first period that sparked the Beermen’s blazing offense capped off by back-to-back three-pointers from Allyn Bulanadi to end the first 12 minutes with an 18-14 lead.
The Beermen then didn’t look back when the trio of Cameron Clark, June Mar Fajardo, and Jericho Cruz spearheaded their waxing hot offense that pushed their lead to 11 points, 44-33, heading into the second half.
Just when San Miguel thought they already figured the Bolts, veteran import KJ McDaniels carried the whole Meralco squad on his back and scored nine quick points that deadlocked the ball game at 51-all.
Fajardo then responded with a huge and-one play on the other end that halted San Miguel’s bleeding for five-straight minutes.
The Beermen found their spark once again in the most crucial stretch of the third quarter when Simon Enciso got hot from downtown, ballooning their lead to double digits again off a Perez trey from the top of the key.
Despite another valiant fightback from the Bolts to inch closer in the final canto, the Beermen’s signature well-oiled artillery was in full display as the reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions buried buckets at will in the last five minutes of the game.
Clark top-scored for the Beermen once again with 28 points and 16 rebounds while Perez chipped in 19 points and five rebounds.
“This 5-0, the credit is all to the players. They are really doing a good job of listening and learning, especially listening to the defensive and offensive schemes of the team,” said SMB head coach Jorge Gallent.
