SAN Miguel Beer drew inspiration from a couple of role players to complete a 128-89 thrashing of hapless Terrafirma and claim solo third-running spot Sunday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Montalban.
Mo Tautuaa scored 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 field shooting while Rodney Brondial outdid himself with a new career-high 22 rebounds on top of 16 points in powering the Beermen's surge to the wire-to-wire win.
CJ Perez overcame early shooting struggles to also finish with 17 points while four other SMB players scored in double figures, including June Mar Fajardo who had 12 points and as many boards.
As a result, the Beermen notched a second straight victory that gave it a 5-2 record that broke them out of a pre-game tie with Barangay Ginebra.
Winning coach Leo Austria lauded his team's defense that limited Terrafirma to a 33-of-92 field shooting and also praised Brondial for carrying over his work ethics usually displayed in practice.
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"Ever since naman alam natin 'yung kanyang hard-nosed defense,and then 'yung kanyang rebounding. He's so intense. Kahit sa practice makikita mo intensity nandoon, eh," said Austria of Brondial.
The 34-year-old forward deflected the credit to his teammates and coaching staff after re-setting his previous rebounding high of 18 recorded during the 2022 Philippine Cup.
"Ewan ko nagkataon lang. Sinusunod ko lang naman sistema ni coach Leo so kung anuman 'yung nangyari sa loob... bunga lang ng preparation namin and mga pinapagawa lang din sa amin ng coaching staff," said Brondial.
"Ako naman kung ano lang maibibigay ko, especially mga intangibles. Basta makatulong lang sa team. Ever since naman 'yung rebounds talaga focus ko and 'yung depensa," added Brondial. "So eto nagkataon lang 16 points talaga."
The loss was Terrafirma's seventh straight, dropping it to a 1-7 slate and practically out of the running for a quarterfinals slot allotted only to the top eight teams following the 11-game eliminations.
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Mark Nonoy had 24 points built around three four-pointers while Stanley Pringle added 17 and Louie Sangalang 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Dyip, however, could not avoid the Beermen's surge to a 28-21 lead in the first quarter that was largely made possible when Juami Tiongson boomed in three triples and Brondial collared 12 of his boards.
The difference got stretched to as much as 51-35 in the second canto before SMB's more sustained offense resulted in its 95-64 cushion going to the final 12 minutes of play. (NC)
The Scores :
SAN MIGUEL 128 - Perez 17, Tautuaa 17, Brondial 16, Tiongson 13, Fajardo 12, Trollano 12, Cruz 11, Teng 8, Calma 8, Rosales 7, Lassiter 4, Cahilig 3, Ross 0.
TERRAFIRMA 89 - Nonoy 24, Pringle 17, Sangalang 10, Zaldivar 9, Paraiso 7, Catapusan 7, Ramos 5, Melecio 5, Olivario 3, Ferrer 2, Hernandez 0, Hanapi 0.
QUARTERS: 28-21, 53-37, 95-64, 128-89
