TERRENCE Romeo came out from the shadows Friday to hit some big shots and help San Miguel Beer outlast Barangay Ginebra, 131-125, to even up their PBA Governors' Cup semifinals duel at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Romeo scored nine of his 26 points in the extension with his triple immediately followed by an equally clutch four-pointer that gave the Beermen a 121-117 lead, only 2:06 left in the game.
The likes of Marcio Lassiter, AJ Anosike and Jericho Cruz then took turns delivering the points that kept the Gin Kings at bay as coach Jorge Gallent's charges fully put behind them the stigma of a 105-122 loss in the best-of-seven series' opener last Wednesday.
"We just stuck to our gameplan, we just stuck to what we do in practice. That thing will come out naman, eh," said Gallent before expounding more on the difference between the duel's first two games.
"They just went through the flow of our offense and I think we did a better job defensively today," Gallent also said. "Game 1 we weren't in the flow of our offense. That's why our defense was really bad because we were scrambling a lot."
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Romeo, who only had six points on nine shots in the first game but torched the rim with a perfect 1-of-1 clip from 27 feet out and 5-of-5 from three-point land, said it's all about being up to the task.
"Ready lang ako every game and thank God na-shoot ko mga tira ko," he said before adding: "Team effort talaga. Ang ganda ng ball movement namin, ang ganda ng defense namin. Mas madali kaming nakakapag-execute every time na nakaka-stop kami ng maganda."
Anosike would up with 35 points and nine rebounds with CJ Perez also coming up huge with 28 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and June Mar Fajardo adding 23 points, 21 boards and six dimes.
Justin Brownlee finished with a gamehigh 39 points on top of 15 boards and seven assists with his three-point play moving Ginebra within 120-123.
Lassiter, however, punctuated his 12-point game with a triple that restored a six-point lead for SMB going to the last 63 seconds of the match.
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It was Brownlee himself who strung up five straight points that gave Ginebra a 108-106 lead, 18.8 seconds left in regulation.
Perez, however, boomed in a four-pointer in SMB's next possession before Maverick Ahanmisi calmly sank two charities off a Romeo foul to forge a 110-all count and force OT. (NC)
The Scores (OT):
SAN MIGUEL 131 - Anosike 35, Perez 28, Romeo 26, Fajardo 23, Lassiter 12, Cruz 5, Tautuaa 2, Ross 0, Rosales 0, Trollano 0, Enciso 0, Manuel 0.
GINEBRA 125 - Brownlee 39, J.Aguilar 29, Thompson 16, Ahanmisi 15, Holt 14, Abarrientos 4, Tenorio 3, Cu 2, Devance 2, Pinto 1, Pessumal 0, Adamos 0.
QUARTERS : 22-24, 51-47, 85-76, 110-110, 131-125
