By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The San Miguel Beermen were all guns blazing and evened its 2022 PBA Philippine Cup grand final series against the TNT Tropang Giga after a 109-100 victory in Game 2.
Despite a heartbreaking loss during Game 1 of the finals after veteran point guard Jayson Castro sank the buzzer-beating game-winner with only 1.6 seconds left, the Beermen were unfazed and went back to their dominant playoff form.
Marcio Lassiter kicked off SMB’s offensive party after firing eight quick points built from two drained three-pointers and a running layup.
SMB gunner CJ Perez also stepped up to the challenge and bullied his way against TNT’s pesky defenders, helping his team cling to a 30-28 lead after 12 minutes of action.
The Tropang Giga fought with their all and went toe-to-toe against SMB after finally regaining their stroke in the second quarter.
Kib Montalbo became TNT’s ex-factor in the first half as the two-way point guard delivered huge answers including a perimeter jump shot that deadlocked the game at 38-all.
However, TNT lost its grasp in the third quarter and failed to contain the blazing SMB offensive run led by Vic Manuel who established his dominance in the shaded lane.
From an 82-79 lead, Manuel’s personal scoring run and heroics helped SMB balloon its lead to 91-79 three minutes into the final canto.
SMB extended its biggest lead to 15 points and was looking to close the show early but a counter run by the Tropang Giga helped them stay alive and cut the deficit to just a single digit.
The duo of RR Pogoy and Castro did what they could to buy baskets for the Tropang Giga but the Beermen held their ground to avoid another meltdown.
SMB was top-scored by Perez with 23 points backstopped by Manuel’s 20 and Lassiter’s 19 while TNT got 28 points from Pogoy.
Mikey Williams, who embarrassed the San Miguel defense during Game 1, was only limited to seven points and is seeking to bounce back in the next game today at 5:45 PM.
