MANILA – San Miguel Beermen leaned on its towering frontline to stave off Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, 108-100, in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
June Mar Fajardo tallied double-double 24 points and 15 rebounds to go with six assists and three blocks as the Beermen kicked off its All-Filipino campaign on a winning note.
Vic Manuel chipped in 24 markers. Jaymar Perez and Chris Ross contributed 19 and 17 markers, respectively. John Rodney Brondial hauled 13 rebounds to go with nine points for SMB.
Clinging to an 85-84 lead, the Beermen leaned on inside hits from Brondial and Fajardo and outside conversions from Ross to widen the advantage to 95-88.
After a triple by Phoenix’s RJ Jazul for a 91-95 score, the Beermen got consecutive inside hits from Fajardo and two pointers each from Perez and Ross to increase the lead to 102-93.
Back-to-back treys by Fuel Masters’ Christian Tyler Tio and Matthew Wright cut the deficit to 100-104 but conversions from Ross and Fajardo sealed the victory for the Beermen.
Wright finished the game with 18 points, while Tio and Florencio Serrano had solid PBA debuts with 17 and 15 markers, respectively, for the Fuel Masters.
In the first game, Calvin Oftana carried the scoring cudgels for the NLEX Road Warriors in the fourth quarter to score a come-from-behind 105-102 win over Terrafirma Dyip.
Down by as much as 16 points in the first half and by five points after three quarter, Oftana started strong for the Road Warriors in the fourth with 14 early points to build a 93-84 edge.
The Dyip, however, countered with a run twice, with last cutting the Road Warriors deficit to 102-103, but Oftana converted two free throws to seal the win for NLEX.
Oftana finished the match with 20 points, with 18 coming in the fourth quarter, Kevin Alas contributed 24 markers, as JR Quiñahan contributed 18 points for the Road Warriors (1-0).
BOX SCORE:
SAN MIGUEL 108 — Manuel 24, Fajardo 24, Perez 19, Ross 17, Brondial 9, Tautuaa 8, Lassiter 6, Pessumal 1, Enciso 0, Herndon 0.
PHOENIX 100 — Wright 18, Tio 17, Serrano 15, Perkins 15, Jazul 9, Lalata 5, Mocon 5, Pascual 4, Melecio 3, Manganti 3, Muyang 2, Porter 0, Garcia 0, Rios 0.
Quarterscores: 23-25, 54-51, 83-77, 108-100./PN
