MANILA — The top-seeded defending champion San Miguel Beermen unleashed their full might at crunch time on the hard-fighting TNT KaTropa for an emphatic 106-93 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup on Tuesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With their twice-to-beat advantage, SMB thus clinched the first semifinals berth and now awaits the winner of the Ginebra vs. Rain or Shine best-of-3 quarterfinals series. Ginebra leads that series 1-0, needing just a win on Wednesday to arrange a best-of-7 semifinals series against sister team SMB.
SMB’s star center and four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo dominated both ends of the court, exploding for 35 points on top of 11 rebounds, two blocks, and one assist in over 38 minutes of action.
The Texters valiantly fought the Beermen for most parts of the game that saw 13 lead changes and four deadlocks.
TNT was down by just two points, 90-88, when SMB unleashed a game-deciding 14-3 run late in the fourth quarter, to pull away, 104-91, a 13-point lead that proved to be too much for the Texters to overcome.
Marcio Lassiter was also red-hot, blasting away with 20 points along with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Arwind Santos added 15 points, 10 of them in the final period, along with seven rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and four steals in 37 minutes, before getting ejected following a clash with TNT’s Jericho Cruz. Chris Ross chipped in 13 points, seven assists, three boards, and three steals.
Jayson Castro and Troy Rosario led TNT with 19 points apiece, but the two combined for just three points in the fourth quarter. Roger Pogoy tallied 17 points, Anthony Semerad had 16 while Kelly Williams added 15 markers as the Texters crashed out of the conference.
Magnolia 86, GlobalPort 79
The second-seeded Magnolia Hotshots came back from a 20-point deficit to eliminate the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 86-79, in their quarterfinals match on Tuesday night. The twice-to-beat Hotshots thus grabbed a semifinals slot and will go up against the winner of the NLEX-Alaska quarterfinals series. NLEX currently leads that best-of-3 series, 1-0.
Down by 11 points, 34-45, at halftime, the Hotshots came roaring back in the third quarter, outscoring the Batang Pier, 27-14, to grab the lead for good and then warding off successive GlobalPort rallies.
Mark Barroca led the Hotshots with 17 points, seven of them in the final quarter. Paul Lee added 14 points, 13 rebounds, and one assist in 35 minutes, while Marc Pingris chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds, two blocks, one assist, and one steal in 33 minutes. Ian Sangalang had 11 points, eight boards, and one assist in 23 minutes off the bench.
Stanley Pringle topscored for GlobalPort with 31 points, including five three-pointers, along with 10 rebounds,, four assists, and one block against six turnovers in almost 41 minutes of play.
In just his second game in the conference, Terrence Romeo added 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting in almost 30 minutes.
Romeo figured in an altercation with his own GlobalPort coach Pido Jarencio in the third quarter when Magnolia took control of the game.
GlobalPort badly missed the services of Sean Anthony who sprained his ankle late in the first quarter.
Games on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 (Quarterfinals, best-of-3): Barangay Ginebra Kings vs. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (Ginebra leads 1-0) and NLEX Road Warriors vs. Alaska Aces (NLEX leads 1-0)
