San Miguel Beer woke up when it needed to.
After a sluggish opening half, the Beermen suddenly came to life and unleashed their wrath the rest of the way to waylay hapless Columbian Dyip, 143-119, getting back in the winning column in the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Arwind Santos showed up with his best game of the conference, unloading a game-high 29 points, sinking seven triples in the process, to go with nine rebounds, while Marcio Lassiter was back in his groove, draining five triples of his own on his way to 28 points for San Miguel.
It was a tale of two halves for San Miguel as it took awhile for it to finally get going.
The Beermen set a record for dropping 99 points in the second half alone as their offensive repertoire was in full display.
Trailing, 64-66, heading the second half, the Beermen stepped hard on the gas pedal to uncork a game-turning third quarter surge, exploding for 43 huge points in the quarter compared to only 18 for the Dyip to emphatically seize control and take a gigantic 107-84 cushion, breaking the game wide open in the process.
That onslaught was all San Miguel needed to take its second victory.
The Beermen improved to 2-1 to move up the ladder, while the Dyip stayed winless and fell to 0-6 as its chances of making the top eight now look bleak.
San Miguel reinforcement AZ Reid had a woeful first half, scoring only two points on 1-of-8 shooting.
However, the resident import bounced back strongly in the second half to finish with 16 markers, while Christian Standhardinger was steady with 21 markers.
Columbian actually led, 52-44, briefly midway in the second period, but San Miguel Beer stayed within striking distance before turning the corner around completely in the second half.
The Dyip was led by Akeem Wright and Jeramy King’s 22 points each.
The scores:
San Miguel 143—Santos 29, Lassiter 28, Standhardinger 21, Reid 16, Nabong 14, Cabagnot 12, Pessumal 11, Ross 7, Heruela 5, Mamaril 0, Vigil 0.
Columbian 119—Corpuz 28, King 22, Wright 22, McCathy 18, Khobuntin 7, Escoto 6, Cabrera 5, Reyes 2, Celda 2, Gabriel 2, Cahilig 2, Sara 2, Tubid 1, Ababou 0.
Quarters: 34-26, 64-66, 107-84, 143-119
