SAN Miguel Beer, the team with a shot at a season twin-kill, made one key step towards achieving the goal in sealing a spot in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs with a 120-100 rout of NorthPort Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
The Beermen claimed the first berth in the post-elims play with an overpowering performance leading to their biggest output in a game and most lopsided victory in the season-ending tourney.
Though playing a second game in three nights, CJ Perez and his teammates played with a lot of spunk, fire and energy, utterly dominating their rivals on the way to a seventh win in as many outings.
Perez top scored with 29 points that he made all in the first three quarters while adding nine rebounds and six assists and one steal against two turnovers.
Then there were Mo Tautuaa (15 points), Marcio Lassiter (14), Don Trollano (13), June Mar Fajardo (12) and Jeron Teng (10) with their twin-digit contributions as the Beermen roared on heading to their keenly awaited match with Commissioner's Cup finals foe Magnolia on Friday.
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"We'll treat Magnolia as a threat to us. For sure, they also have the twice-to-beat advantage in mind. But we just have to be prepared and do things that we have to do to beat a team like Magnolia. We'll be prepared on Friday," said San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent.
Though assured of a playoff berth, the Beermen still need to get going in chase of a Top 2 finish and the win-once bonus in the quarters.
The Magnolia Hotshots are also very well in the race with a 5-2 win-loss card.
Meanwhile, the Batang Pier dropped down from joint sixth place to No. 7 with a fourth straight defeat and a 4-5 card overall.
It was a shattering loss in a game where they hardly got into the battle.
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So dominant were the Beermen that they led by as many as 39 before simply going through the motion in the fourth period.
A big key was sharing the ball that netted the Beermen 31 assists.
"If we share the ball, we are a great team. If we don't share the ball, we're a normal team," said Gallent. (SB)
