Beermen survive Dyip

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer got a taste of Terrafirma’s now-familiar fourth-quarter barrage that nearly resulted in disaster for its two previous opponents.

But like NLEX and Converge before them, the Beermen survived this major scare against the Dyip.

It took the reigning Philippine Cup titlists a couple of defensive stops and an 8-0 salvo in the final 1:21 to wipe out a three-point deficit and escape the upset axe, 109-104, and go 2-0 in Group A of the PBA Governors’ Cup last night at Ynares Center-Antipolo.

“Now we can say a win is a win. They outhustled us, outplayed us, outcoached us,” said a relieved assistant coach Peter Martin, stepping in again as coach Leo Austria attended to personal matters.

“We couldn’t put them away. Big shout-out to Terrafirma, they fought us, they really gave us a run for our money. I got nervous and I’m just glad we came out with the win,” said SMB import George King who delivered 37 markers, 14 boards and three steals in this escape act.

It was King who served as spark as SMB regrouped in the stretch after blowing a 22-point lead and trailing at 101-104.

King knocked down two free throws to cut the Dyip’s lead to one then picked up Juami Tiongson’s pass en route to the layup that put the Beermen back up, 105-104.

They then forced the Dyip to miss succeeding attempts to steal this one away, handing the latter’s third straight loss for 1-3 overall.

“I think it’s going to be a mortal sin if San Miguel loses,” said Martin.

“Pero hindi kami nagkulang sa paalala. We told them Terrafirma came back from 20 points down in fourth against two teams, NLEX and Converge so it’s not new.”

Later, Meralco detonated a 41-23 bomb in the third period to set the tone for a 122-114 bounceback win over Rain or Shine in Group B.

Jason Brickman delivered a season-high 19 with seven assists while debuting import Antonio Hester banged in 21-9 as the Bolts improved to 1-1 while dropping the ROS to 0-2.