Mighty rebound for Beermen

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer imposed its will and clobbered Phoenix, 111-92, for a quick pull-around in the PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Beermen unleashed a fiery 34-21 salvo to create separation in the second canto and set the tone for the romp that put them back on track after their 84-89 defeat to TNT a week ago.

Serving as a main spark was Don Trollano, who fired 10 spiked by a thunderous four-pointer in that game-changing stretch that lifted SMB to a 64-50 margin.

Trollano finished with 21 to go with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks as he gained redemption from his scoreless performance in the previous gig.

CJ Perez shot a match-high 26, including a pair of late triples that extinguished Phoenix’ rally attempt, as June Mar Fajardo banged in 20-12 and Marcio Lassiter rifled in 11.

“They (the Beermen) were well motivated to win after the loss to TNT. If we lost again, we might drop to No. 8 (in the standings). With this, we’re still on track for the top 4 (and twice-to-beat),” said coach Leo Austria, whose troops stayed at No. 3 at 4-2 behind Magnolia (5-0) and NLEX (4-1).

Trollano anchored a 46-point contribution from the SMB bench – a major upshift from its meager six in the previous loss to TNT.

“Just play hard. Kailangan namin mag-step up ‘pag nag-struggle ‘yung first group. The mindset is just to win, we can’t afford to lose back-to-back dahil ‘yung standings ay dikit-dikit,” said Trollano.

Later, RR Pogoy (34) and Calvin Oftana (28) sizzled as TNT made it three straight after a 0-3 start with a 101-84 rout of holder Meralco (3-4).