Rookie CJ steers Dyip past mighty Beermen

MANILA, Philippines — Columbian Dyip, featuring top draft pick CJ Perez and its gritty old bunch led by Jackson Corpuz, scored a huge upset right in its first game in PBA Season 44 with a 124-118 humbling of reigning all-Filipino four-time champ San Miguel Beer at the Cuneta Astrodome last night.

Perez matched Rob Bolick’s 26-point debut with NorthPort on Wednesday while Corpuz hurt San Miguel badly on his steady perimeter shooting, coming through with 21 points on top of 11 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists as the Dyip already equaled the lone win they posted in the 2018 Philippine Cup.

Reden Celda, Rashawn McCarthy, JR Reyes, Russell Escoto, Eric Camson and Jerramy King had their no-nonsense performances as Columbian shocked the highly favored Beermen.

Meanwhile, the Petron Blaze Saturday road series fires off tonight at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo with Meralco and Blackwater clashing in the 4:30 p.m. curtain-raiser, then TNT KaTropa and Phoenix Pulse colliding at 6:45 p.m.

The Fuel Masters go for a second straight win while the Bolts, the Elite and the Texters both try to bounce back from a loss.

“I’m so happy because I feel it’s a good opportunity just to play them, and then we came out triumphantly,” said Perez, who actually had a jittery first half before hitting his stride and scoring all but two of his output in the final half.

“I was so excited in the first half and it didn’t help my game. Good thing, I was able to recover in the second half,” Perez said.

The Dyip beat the Beermen on the perimeter shooting of their big men.

In trying to draw out June Mar Fajardo on defense, the Columbian frontliners took shots from afar, with Reyes, Escoto and Camson ending up with a combined seven three-point field-goal conversions.

Then there were Perez, Celda, McCarthy and King holding their own against SMB’s guard and wing rotations as the Dyip negated Arwind Santos’ 34-point explosion.

With a constant double-teaming defense on Fajardo, the Dyip held the Cebuano behemoth to 16 markers. Worse, Fajardo committed seven turnovers.

James Yap fired 20 points spiked by 4-of-7 three-pointers while rookie Javee Mocon wasted no time to prove that he belongs, delivering 13 points and five rebounds as Rain or Shine crushed NLEX, 96-87, later in the night.