Beermen trounce Realtors in Negros
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/07/2009 11:01 PM
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MANILA -- San Miguel Beer stretched its winning run to four games with an 88-69 whipping of Sta. Lucia Realty Saturday night in the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup at the Victorias City Sports and Amusement Center in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.
The Beermen took advantage of the Realtors’ erratic first half and survived Gabby Espinas’ third-quarter explosion to come away with their 4th victory after starting the conference with back-to-back losses.
Arwind Santos led San Miguel with 21 points, 14 of them came in the first half when the Fiesta Cup champions took a 20-point advantage. The former FEU star also grabbed 13 rebounds.
Dorian Pena added 14 points while former Sta. Lucia guard Dennis Miranda contributed 10 markers. Dondon Hontiveros and Lordy Tugade, the hero in San Miguel’s previous win against Rain or Shine, added 13 and 10 points respectively.
Espinas led the Realtors with 17 points, 13 of them in the third period when he rallied his team to no avail, as he failed to get support from his teammates, particularly from Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes.
Williams had a quiet 11-point performance for Sta. Lucia, which lost 3 of its last 4 games to fall behind with a 3-3 mark. Joseph Yeo chipped in 16 points for coach Boyet Fernandez.
San Miguel feasted on the Realtors’ carelessness in the first 24 minutes when the latter committed 18 turnovers which the Beermen converted into 18 points.
Their lead ballooned to as much as 28 points, 65-37, on Miranda’s two free throws with 4:30 left in the third.
Espinas then buckled down to work, scoring 13 points for Sta. Lucia which entered the fourth period 22 points behind, 72-50.
Yeo and Williams tried to provide some spark as they cut the margin down to 64-82. However, Dondon Hontiveros and Dorian Pena responded with 6 points to put the game out of reach, 88-64, to end the Beermen’s 5-game losing streak on road games.
San Miguel’s last out-of-town defeat was last October 7 against league-leading Alaska, 74-85, in Panabo City.
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