MANILA – San Miguel Beermen bucked the absence of several key players to score a 90-76 win over Shenzhen Aviators at the start of the East Asia League Terrific 12 at the Tap Seac Sports Stadium in Macau, China.
Dez Wells showed his full arsenal with 29 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists on Tuesday night.
Terrence Romeo, on the other hand, displayed his capability in the international stage with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Chris Ross had an impressive showing with 11 points, six rebounds, six steals, five assists and a block.
Christian Standhardinger and Lester Prosper also had double-digit output of 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
The Beermen went on a rampage early courtesy of Wells and Prosper. They erected a 33-13 advantage but the Aviators got its game going in the second half to come to as close as 61-62.
The Beermen regained its form as back-to-back three-point conversions from Romeo gave them an 80-67 advantage with over four minutes to play. The Aviators failed to recover.
The Beermen notched its opening-day win in the tournament despite the absence of starters June Mar Fajardo (sprained ankle), Marcio Lassiter (knee) and Alex Cabagnot (flu), while Kelly Nabong will not arrive until Thursday.
TNT KaTropa and Blackwater Elite were not as fortunate as the Beermen with the former suffering a 96-91 loss to Lance Stephenson-led Liaoning Flying Leopards, while the latter lost to South Korea’s Seoul SK Knights, 93-77./PN
