Beermen have aces up their sleeves

San Miguel simply played bad but Alaska played even worse as the Beermen smothered the Aces, 75-58, to close in on the quarterfinal round of the Samsung PBA Reinforced Conference at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Kwan Johnson provided the sparkle in an otherwise ugly contest, leading the Beermen to a third straight win and their fourth in 10 games in all.

The whole Alaska team struggled all game long and suffered its fifth loss against three wins.

"We couldn’t shoot well in the first half at nag-pick up na lang sa second half. Luckily, Alaska’s (shooting) percentage stayed low throughout," said San Miguel coach Jong Uichico.

The Beermen finished with a decent shooting clip (42.5 percent) as they shot 48.7 percent in the second half. They hit at 36.6 percent in the first two quarters.

The Aces went 11-of-40 for a woeful 27.5 percent clip in the first half and closed out with 23-of-73 shooting for 31.5 percent.

Their production in the night was the lowest by any team this conference and the second lowest in franchise history. Alaska’s all-time low was 55.

"The good thing was that we won the game and we enhanced our chances for the next round," said Uichico, whose Beermen moved up to second place in Group A on their crucial win.

Curiously, the Beermen pulled through without making any bonus point from the stripe. The Aces committed only 10 fouls and never gave a single free throw – another first in league history.

But San Miguel didn’t need to go to the stripe to make the points with Johnson delivering from all over the court. The cat-quick SMB import went 5-of-8 from the three-point and are 9-of-15 from the two-point zone for 33 points.

With Johnson spreading his production in all quarters, the Beermen outscored the Aces in the first three frames, erecting a 56-39 advantage going into the payoff period.

In the nightcap, Sta. Lucia Realty, getting significant help from comebacking import Damien Owens, walloped Purefoods, 93-84, to gain early entry into the quarterfinals.

The Beermen preserved a 17-point win in the end as they matched the Aces’ 19-point output in the last quarter.

The Aces struggled so bad that only one of them – John Arigo – hit above the 40-percent mark.

Isaac Fontaine typified Alaska’s poor offensive game as he went 7-of-21 from field for only 20 points.