Beermen show no fear, no mercy for Kings

MANILA, Philippines - It was a merciless, heartless beating as San Miguel Beer feasted on a listless Barangay Ginebra side all night long and easily silenced the pro-Kings crowd with a 109-82 rout in Game One of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the MOA Arena last night.

The Beermen seized the initiative early with crisp outside shooting, limited the Kings to nine points in 10 minutes of the first period and coasted home to victory in one of the most lopsided starts to a best-of-seven title playoff.

The defending back-to-back champions, fired-up by their desire to win the perpetual Emilio “Jun” Bernardino Trophy, burst out of the opening block in both halves and dominated through 48 minutes, hardly allowing the Kings to get back into the game.

San Miguel, sizzling on a three-game run from its Final Four come-from-behind win over TNT KaTropa, seeks a second straight win versus Ginebra as action shifts over to the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena in Game Two tomorrow.

So lopsided was Game One that it was practically over after three periods with San Miguel leading by 33 points at 89-56.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone opted to rest his top guns in the final quarter, visibly reeling from fatigue from a long, tough semis series versus Star that ended last Tuesday.

“We knew they just had one practice going to this game. One-day preparation is tough. We jumped on them and made a statement early in the game,” said San Miguel ace guard Chris Ross.

Ross, June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter, SMB’s Super Five, pummeled Ginebra hard in the opening quarter and set the tone of the match early.

 Cabagnot, Ross and Fajardo dished out double-digit outputs right in the first half, powering SMB to an early 27-point lead before taking the half at 60-39.

It was the most lopsided first half in PBA finals opener since Alaska posted a 46-24 halftime lead over Ginebra in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup.

Ross and Fajardo finished with 17 points apiece, Cabagnot and Gabby Espinas wound up with 16 markers each while Ronald Tubid came through with 11 points.

The powerhouse SMB starting unit clobbered its Ginebra counterpart, 45-9, in the first half, and they got welcome breather in the second half.

All averaging long minutes, Fajardo, Ross, Cabagnot, Lassiter and Santos shared a big chunk with their teammates in their 27-point blowout – the most lopsided final game since the Beermen’s 108-78 conquest of the Alaska Milk Aces in the 2015 Governors Cup.

Ginebra starters LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Joe Devance, Sol Mercado and Aljun Mariano all came out flat. The Kings got some points on the board in the second period from second stringers Mark Caguioa, Jervy Cruz and Chris Ellis with 10, eight and seven points, respectively.

Cabagnot, Lassiter and Santos drained all their first four three-point shots while Fajardo converted his first pair of free throws and first post attack in a hot 17-2 opening attack in the first four minutes of the contest.

Ginebra called two early timeouts but failed to stop San Miguel’s jackrabbit start.

The scores: 

SAN MIGUEL 109 – Ross 17, Fajardo 17, Cabagnot 16, Espinas 16, Tubid 11, Santos 9, Lassiter 8, Agovida 7, Heruela 4, Reyes 2, De Ocampo 2, Van Opstal 0, Mabulac 0, McCarthy 0.

GNEBRA 82 – Ellis 13, Cruz 12, Caguioa 12, Thompson 10, Taha 9, Tenorio 5, Aguilar 5, Mariano 4, Jamito 4, Devance 3, Mercado 2, Ferrer 2, Marcelo 1, Helterbrand 0, De Guzman 0.

Quarterscores: 35-12, 60-39, 89-56, 109-82