Beermen outgun Batang Pier in high-scoring match

San Miguel bounced back from a crushing defeat to Converge and cruised past still-winless NorthPort, 145-132, Wednesday night in the elimination round of the PBA Season 47 Governors’ Cup at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The smashing victory improved the Beermen’s win-loss record to 6-1 while the Batang Pier remained alone at the bottom of the team standings with their 6th loss in as many games.

SMB reinforcement Cameron Clark scattered a conference-high 44 points on a sizzling 76% (20-of-26) shooting from the field. The former NLEX import also tallied 9 boards, 7 assists and a steal in 41 mintues of action.

“In order to win a game, you have to share the ball, you have to reverse the ball, you have to do everything to give opportunities to others. Once we get stagnant on one side, nothing will happen,” said SMB head coach Jorge Gallent during the post-game presser.

“I got shocked that we had 46 assists today. But our defense was terrible today,” he added.

June Mar Fajardo recovered from an anemic performance against the FiberXers and posted a huge double-double of 29 points and 12 boards to go with an assist and a block. CJ Perez also had a commendable performance as the Gilas Pilipinas wingman came through with 24 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists while Marcio Lassiter and Vic Manuel chipped in 16 and 12 markers, respectively.

Simon Enciso only had 3 points but finished with a game-high 13 assists to go with 2 boards and 2 steals.

Kevin Murphy led the Mikee Romero-owned franchise with a statline of 39 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while Arvin Tolentino dropped a career-high 32 points in 32 minutes of play. Robert Bolick added 16 markers while former Beerman Paul Zamar contributed 14.

San Miguel’s next assignment is against defending champion Brgy. Ginebra on Friday, February 17, 5:45pm at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The scores:

San Miguel 145 – Clark 44, Fajardo 29, Perez 24, Lassiter 16, Manuel 12, Cruz 9, Bulanadi 5, Enciso 3, Tautuaa 3, Brondial 0, Ross 0.

NorthPort 132 – Murphy 39, Tolentino 32, Bolick 16, Zamar 14, Calma 11, Chan 9, Caperal 4, Ayaay 4, Munzon 3, Balagasay 0, Taha 0.

Quarterscores: 40-36, 72-67, 108-96, 145-132