THE San Miguel Beermen had all the answers on everything the Meralco Bolts could throw at them, pulling off a dominant 110-98 win in their faceoff in the PBA golden anniversary special card at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum Wednesday night.
June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez both churned out great games in this historic evening in the league's old haunt in Vito Cruz, powering the Beermen past the Bolts in the rematch of their title showdown in the last all-Filipino won by Meralco.
Perez top scored with 29 points including a four ball and three three-pointers while Fajarco collected 28 markers, 10 rebounds and four assists as the Beermen notched a second win in a row while handing the Bolts a first loss after a 2-0 conference start.
Jeron Teng was a third San Miguel player to hit a twin-digit output with 11 while Rodney Brondial, Marcio Lassiter and Juami Tiongson had their own solid contributions in their follow-up to their 98-89 win over the NLEX Road Warriors on Saturday.
After some festivities to celebrate the big day, Fajardo and his teammates buckled down to work and zoomed to a 52-38 lead at halftime.
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Chris Newsome, the Meralco top scorer with 27, sparked a searing charge in the third as the Bolts trimmed the gap to three, 74-77, heading to the final canto.
But the Beermen were quick to quash the threat, with Fajardo slamming home then Perez and Tiongson firing back-to-back treys as SMB reestablished a double-digit lead at 92-81.
And there's no let-up for the Beermen from there, pulling through in the game they played wearing circa 1980s white tops and red shorts against the Bolts in their old orange jerseys from the 1970s MICAA.
The two teams had a photo-shoot at center court before the opening tip with pioneer player Jimmy Noblezada and one-time PBA All-Star MVP awardee Boy Cabahug.
The league's golden anniversary celebration will be marked by another big highlight with a gala night at Solaire North on Friday. The affair will be highlighted by the gathering of the league's 50 greatest players.(SB)
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The Scores :
SAN MIGUEL - Perez 29, Fajardo 28, Teng 11, Brondial 9, Lassiter 8, Tiongson 7, Rosales 7, Tautuaa 6, Trollano 5, Cahilig 0.
MERALCO - Newsome 27, Reyson 14, Black 12, Jose 12, Hodge 10, Cansino 8, Bates 6, Almazan 5, Quinto 4, Torres 0, Rios 0, Caram 0, Pascual 0.
QUARTERS: 25-21, 52-38, 77-74, 110-98
