Beermen overpower Texters, stay on top

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer firmed up its hold of the lead while Globalport closed in on joint second placers Alaska Milk and Rain or Shine as the Beermen and the Batang Pier stretched their hot streaks versus separate opponents in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

With both Junmar Fajardo and Arwind Santos back in MVP form, the Beermen overpowered the TNT Tropang Texters, 97-84, to further boost their bid for a Top Two finish and an outright Final Four entry with a 9-1 win-loss card.

Santos struck for 30 points and 12 rebounds while Fajardo delivered 22 markers and 15 boards as they relegated the Tropang Texters (5-4) in the fight for the Top Six.

In their last game, Santos and Fajardo struggled on early fouls as the Beermen barely survived the NLEX Road Warriors, 88-80, in overtime.

With yet another wondrous job from the super duo of Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle, Globalport beat out Mahindra, 118-116, in an overtime grind in this Petron Blaze Saturday Special.

Romeo and Pringle both piled up 29 points to highlight their superb all-round games that propelled the Batang Pier to a fourth straight win and guaranteed the team of at least a Top Six finish or a twice-to-beat advantage in first stage of the tough double-phase quarterfinals.

“Mahindra played great but our guys showed tremendous character – especially Terrence and Stanley,” said Globalport coach Pido Jarencio.

Romeo narrowly missed a rare triple-double game with 10 rebounds and eight assists while Pringle also had a sterling all-around effort with eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block as Globalport jacked up its record to 7-3, now just half-game behind joint second placers Alaska Milk (7-2) and Rain or Shine (7-2).

Mahindra, which set the pace majority of the way, failed to close out the game in regulation and in overtime, and moved on the brink of elimination at 2-8.

Pringle scored on a pull-up off Karl Dehesa at the buzzer to force the extension play at 103 then Romeo came through with a huge five-point binge inside the last 30 seconds in OT as the Batang Pier stole the game.

Romeo struggled with his shots but just kept on shooting, and emerged the team’s biggest hero in firing away a trey followed by the game-winning crossover attack off Mahindra newcomer Michael Di Gregorio with two seconds left.

The Changsha FIBA Asia veteran had missed no less than 13 three-point attempts before making the biggest one that knotted the count at 116.

Overall, Romeo bled for 5-of-22 field shooting, scoring most of his points from the line on an 18-of-21 clip.

“He didn’t lose the confidence to shoot. When he needed to make it, he made it,” said Jarencio.

The Batang Pier gained final possession when Dehesa flubbed his own three-point try in the last 10 seconds.

It was a heart-rending loss for the Enforcers who controlled the tempo early on and seemed headed for the win when they led by five at 115-100 with only a minute left in overtime.

The Enforcers fought a good fight even minus ace guard LA Revilla who’s down with a pulled thigh muscle.

Aldrech Ramos led the team with 24 points, Dehesa added 23 while DiGregorio, a Fil-Italian guard picked by Mahindra in the fourth round in the last Rookie Draft, had a remarkable PBA debut with 19 markers spiked by five triples.