MANILA – Terrence Romeo turned on the heat in the second half as San Miguel Beermen cruised to a 114-91 victory over Phoenix Fuel Masters in Game 4 of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup semifinals last night at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Scoreless in the first two quarters, Romeo found his shooting touch in the third period with five three-point conversions to finish with 20 points for the Beermen, which moved closer to a return trip to the finals with a 3-1 series lead.
Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos made impact in the first half to finish with 18 and 16 markers, respectively, while Chris Ross had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Beermen.
The four-time defending champions were so dominant that June Mar Fajardo just logged in 21 minutes and finish with nine points and six rebounds, while Marcio Lassiter sat the game out anew due to back injury.
The Beermen turned on the scoring right from the get go with Cabagnot and Santos conniving for a 27-20 lead. After the Fuel Masters tied the score at 37-all, the Beermen pulled away anew for a 59-48 halftime edge.
Phoenix was still hanging around at 12 points in the third when Romeo detonated triple after triple as San Miguel went on to build its largest lead at 112-82 on a triple by Paul Zamar.
Stealing the limelight from Beermen’s dominant showing was the several skirmishes between the two team with Fuel Masters’ Jaypee Mendoza as the lone casualty after being ejected for a flagrant and technical foul.
Calvin Abueva tallied double-double 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Dave Marcelo and Rafael Joey Jazul contributed nine markers apiece for the semifinals first timers Fuel Masters./PN
