Beermen register 2nd straight win, move up to 7th spot

San Miguel registered its first winning streak of the conference after drubbing hapless NorthPort, 104-86, Wednesday night in the elimination round of the PBA Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

The Beermen led by as much as 25 points enroute to their 3rd win in 6 outings while the Batang Pier picked up their 4th defeat in 7 starts.

Devon Scott paced the defending champions with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting to go with 16 boards and 6 dimes in 45 minutes of action.

“We just really wanted to come out aggressive, everybody. My team did a very good job of finding me in locations where I didn’t have to do much to score the ball,” said Scott during the post-game press conference with the winning coach and best player.

Aside from June Mar Fajardo who will probably miss the remainder of the preliminary phase, San Miguel also missed the services of Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross. Lassiter skipped the match due to health protocols while Ross was out due to a sore knee.

“That’s a very important game for us. That’s why I keep on telling the team that this is a very important game for us in order for us to advance,” said Austria. “You can see naman the standings eh, from No. 4 down, talagang scrambled doon eh. We can’t afford to lose against NorthPort.”

“In the last minutes, I told them that we need a killer instinct, because, in the past, we were lenient towards the end of the game after leading so much, in double figures. We don’t want to develop that,” he added.

CJ Perez contributed 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists while Simon Enciso and Jericho Cruz dropped 14 markers apiece. Robbie Herndon had 11 points while Mo Tautuaa chipped in 9.

The Beermen’s next assignment is on Saturday, October 29, 4:30pm against the Meralco Bolts at the same venue.

The scores:

San Miguel 104 – Scott 25, Perez 15, Enciso 14, Cruz 14, Herndon 11, Tautuaa 9, Manuel 6, Zamar 6, Brondial 2, Canete 2, Faundo 0.

NorthPort 86 – Ibeh 16, Navarro 14, Bolick 10, Balanza 8, Ayaay 8, Tolentino 6, Ferrer 6, Chan 5, Salado 5, Santos 3, Caperal 3, Calma 2, Taha 0, Vigil 0.

Quarterscores: 26-16, 47-32, 78-61, 104-86.