By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The NLEX Road Warriors made sure there will be no happy opening day for the San Miguel Beermen after handing them a quick loss, 114-102, on the first day of the 2021 PBA Governor’s Cup.
All eyes were on the SMB team after pulling off surprising off-season trades that sent former superstars Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot to the NorthPort Batang Pier and the Terrafirma Dyip, respectively.
In exchange, the Beermen squad received streaky-shooter Simon Enciso from the Blackwater Bossing team and superstar swingman Vic Manuel who last played for the Phoenix Super LPG.
However, things did not swing SMB’s way as the Yeng Guiao-led Road Warriors showed resiliency and teamwork after being down by as much as 11 points.
SMB’s import Brandon Brown dominated early in the ball game and was waxing hot in the first canto after dropping 19 points in just 12 minutes of action.
June Mar Fajardo also made his presence felt early in the game after collecting several offensive rebounds that turned into easy points for SMB.
Just when the Beermen thought they can snowball the game in the middle of the second quarter, NLEX import KJ McDaniels and the rest of the guys buckled to work and came back from a double-digit lead to end the half with a 52-49 lead.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair in the third quarter as both teams traded baskets but the biggest thing NLEX did was neutralize Brown who only scored 17 points for the rest of the game after a 19-point output in the first quarter.
NLEX began to pull away with five minutes remaining in the final quarter as they outscored San Miguel to take a 107-88 lead.
It was an ideal opening campaign for NLEX as five of their locals: Kevin Alas, Don Trollano, Philip Paniamogan, Jericho Cruz, and JR Quiñahan all contributed double-digit scores to backstop McDaniels’ 27 points.
