Philippine Sports News and Updates

San Miguel Beer lost no time in clinching the first outright semifinals berth in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup, whipping Barako Bull, 94-85, Friday night at the Astrodome.

Best Player of the Conference contender Arwind Santos had a double-double of 29 points and 12 rebounds in the Beermen’s 13th win in 16 games and a slot in the best-of-seven semifinals series.

Mike Cortez contributed 18 points and Jay Washington added 15 markers and nine rebounds as they helped the team gain a second straight outright semis berth after finishing no. 1 at the end of the Fiesta Cup eliminations last year.

This marks the fourth straight time that the Beermen have made it to the semis and the seventh time in the past eight conferences.

“It’s nice to be in the semis. But we cannot be satisfied with just being in the semis. We have to make sure that we stay sharp, and we still have to work on a lot of things if ever we want to reach our next goal, which is to get into the Finals," said San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen.

The Beermen have two games left before they wrap up their stint in the 18-game eliminations.

San Miguel won despite turning the ball over 26 times, a factor Barako Bull readily took advantage of as it nearly wiped out a 34-10 deficit early in the second period.

The Energy Boosters charged back and came to within 41-45.

They threatened once more to within 74-68 in the fourth quarter, but then again fizzled out as Cortez hit 11 points in a counter 13-6 run in shoving San Miguel to safer grounds, 87-74, with 6:03 left in the game.

The Boosters suffered their 11th straight defeat and now have a 2-13 (win-loss) record. They are expected to fight it out for the final berth in the wild card stage with Coca-Cola, which has a 3-12 slate.

Ogie Menor, Jojo Dundil and Aris Dimaunahan led Barako Bull in scoring with 16 apiece, while Rob Reyes had 13 rebounds and eight points.

• GMANews
• Philippine Sports Central