Beermen sustain winning run
ARWIND Santos just dealt his former team another severe punishment and his current squad is only too glad riding his able back.
Santos finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks to lead San Miguel Beer to a 100-85 win over Burger King last night, extending the Beermen’s streak in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Arena in Pasig City.
It was the ninth straight win in the tournament, formerly known as the All-Filipino, by the Beermen over the Whoppers and Lordy Tugade’s 20 points and 10 rebounds were also vital.
Still, the long-limbed 6-foot-4 player acquired in a pre-season trade was at the forefront of it all.
In all, the victory stretched SMB’s tournament-best streak to eight after opening up the tournament with two losses, putting it firmly behind idle leader Alaska (8-1).
Santos scored the bulk of his points in the first half, but put in work on the other end of the floor to approximate the 28 points and 18 rebounds he had in SMB’s 117-99 win over BK in the first round of the eliminations last Oct. 21.
The loss was the fifth in its last seven games for BK, dropping it to a 3-8 record overall. Richard Yee had 14 points to lead the Whoppers, who finished the game in the most pathetic of fashions.
The Whoppers let the game slip away by opening up the fourth period shooting 0-for-15 from the field and committing seven turnovers.
JR Quinahan ended the drought with a putback in the last 3:18, but the game was already well beyond BK’s reach by then.
A 35-for-76 field shooting and 24-11 advantage in turnover points helped SMB quell the threat of a BK team trying to bounce back from a 105-118 loss to Talk N Text last Friday but mainly did itself in by shooting just 26-for-82 from the field.
Ronjay Buenafe and Gary David, good for at least 12 points each, combined for 1-for-19 shooting for only 14 points.