By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Who can stop the Beermen?
With nine games into the preliminary round, the powerhouse San Miguel Beermen squad is yet to drop a single game and kept its untainted record alive after crushing the NLEX Road Warriors, 120-103, in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup on April 28, 2024, at the Philsports Arena.
The no. 1 team in the league just proved to be too much for the NLEX team that played without its main gunner, Robert Bolick, who chose to witness the birth of his newborn.
CJ Perez kicked off the San Miguel scoring avalanche after draining several wide-open three-pointers that put them in a comfortable position in the first half.
Aside from Perez, every single player that the coaching staff deployed just produced and paid off the trust that was given to them.
June Mar Fajardo, San Miguel’s superstar and anchor underneath, started to heat up midway through the second after bullying the NLEX interior with his wide array of post moves.
It was in the third quarter that the Beermen officially fended NLEX off after hosting a massive scoring party that helped them establish a double-digit lead.
San Miguel dropped 33 big points in the third quarter alone and extended its lead to as much as 20 points in the first two minutes of the final canto.
NLEX then threw the white towel early in the fourth when they failed to trim the deficit to just a single digit and were badly missing the presence of Bolick who is usually their go-to guy in clutch situations.
Perez top-scored the Beermen with another 30-point performance and was near to tallying a double-double when he grabbed nine rebounds.
Fajardo then backstopped Perez with a dominant 20-20 double-double as the Cebu native dropped 20 points and 21 rebounds to go alongside a block and an assist.
San Miguel will look to maintain its undefeated PBA campaign on May 1, 2024, as they square off with the Blackwater Bossing in the first game of the scheduled doubleheader.
