Unrelenting on both ends, the Beermen opened a huge 24-point spread, 28-4, right in the opening quarter and led by as many as 31 in the lopsided victory that shoved SMB to solo third place at 5-3.
From a 73-42 count, the best the Road Warriors could do was to trim the gap to 12 early in the fourth quarter.
But the Beermen were quick to stretch the margin, and went on to complete a dominant wire-to-wire victory.
"Nakita ko yung self-motivation of our players. They played with a sense of urgency that we badly needed. They played really hard right in the first quarter and that set the tone of the match," said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
"We badly need this win as we're still aiming for the Top Two although we now have a slim chance. But the good thing is we still have the chance," Austria also said.
The Road Warriors just couldn't keep up with the Beermen and reeled to a fifth loss against two wins.
June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter were good soldiers to coach Yeng Guiao in their Gilas duty. But Fajardo and Lassiter were destructive weapons versus Guiao and his NLEX team in this duel.
Fajardo came through with 27 points and 13 rebounds in yet another double-double performance while Lassiter fired four three-pointers and a total of 16 markers.
And there were a host of others that proved too hot to handle for the Road Warriors.
The Beermen actually torched the Road Warriors with a 20-of-43 clip from the arc. NLEX, meanwhile, was good for only an 8-of-30 three-pointers.
Alex Cabagnot contributed 18 points, Arwind Santos chipped in 17 while Terrence Romeo, Von Pessumal and Chris Ross added at least 12 points each.
Romeo was good for only 12 markers but he was all over the floor, snaring eight rebounds, dishing out seven assists and taking one steal against one error.
JR Quinahan top scored for the Road Warriors with 17 markers that went with 10 rebounds.
Poy Erram came through with 16 points, seven boards and three dish-offs in his return from his Gilas stint. (SB)
The scores:
San Miguel 121 - Fajardo 27, Cabagnot 18, Santos 17, Lassiter 16, Romeo 14, Pessumal 12, Ross 12, Zamar 4, Nabong 1, Mamaril 0, Vigil 0, Rosser 0.
NLEX 111 - Quinahan 17, Tiongson 16, Erram 16, Ighalo 14, Galanza 11, Tallo 10, Rios 8, Soyud 5, Paniamogan 5, Baguio 2, Lao 2, Magat 2, Taulava 2, Varilla 0, Porter 0.
Quarters: 31-14, 63-38, 94-77, 121-111.
SOURCE: https://www.pba.ph/news/beermen-dominant-in-121-111-romp-over-road-warriors
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