AFTER sealing a spot in the Top 2 the last time, the San Miguel Beermen roared on to put a lock on No. 1.
And the Beermen are now guaranteed of a matchup with the eighth seed in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals as they rolled to a ninth straight win with a 120-103 blasting of a Robert Bolick-less NLEX side Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
June Mar Fajardo and his teammates are now two games away from elims play sweep.
"If we play the same way we've been playing, it would not bother us," said coach Jorge Gallent on whether he's concerned his team being caught by law of averages later on.
"For as long as they (the Beermen) play hard and know their roles, we'll be okay," added Gallent, whose troops can complete a clean run in the elims with wins versus Blackwater Wednesday and opposite Meralco Saturday.
Fajardo underscored their great desire to stay on the run with a big double-double game with 20 points and 21 rebounds.
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But he downplayed his individual effort.
"Basta nakuha ang panalo, yun ang importante," said Fajardo, then pointing out that it was actually a team effort.
True enough, the Beermen made a collective push, with CJ Perez firing a game-high 30 points, Jericho Cruz and Terrence Romeo both adding 15 off the bench, and Don Trollano and Marcio Lassiter chipping in 14 apiece.
"Kailangan manalo, gusto namin manalo, gusto namin makuha ang No. 1. Ang challenge ngayon sa amin eh dumerecho pa sa panalo," said Fajardo.
With their desire and determination, the Beermen set the tone right in the opening quarter and sent the Road Warriors down to a three-way tie at third place with the Magnolia Hotshots and the TNT Tropang Giga at 5-4.
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The Road Warriors reeled to a third straight loss sans Bolick who attended to his wife Cassandra after giving birth to their son.
Minus Bolick, who is the conference scoring leader, the Road Warriors were led by Enoch Valdez and Jhan Mchale Nermal with 18 and 16 points, respectively.
Three others in Sean Anthony (12 points), Matt Nieto (14) and Rob Herndon (11) scored in double figures but those were not enough for NLEX to keep up with the San Miguel rampage.
The Beermen enjoyed a lead as big as 19.(SB)
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 120 - Perez 30, Fajardo 20, Romeo 15, Cruz 15, Lassiter 14, Trollano 14, Enciso 6, Brondial 4, Teng 2, Tautuaa 0, Ross 0.
NLEX 103 - Valdez 18, Nermal 16, Nieto 14, Anthony 12, Herndon 11, Rodger 8, Miranda 7, Semerad 7, Fajardo 4, Amer 2, Taha 2.
QUARTERS: 25-15, 50-41, 83-71, 120-103
