Brgy. Ginebra succumbs to Terrence Romeo, San Miguel juggernaut

Terrence Romeo scattered a season-high 29 points to lead San Miguel past defending champion Brgy. Ginebra, 111-102, in the elimination round of the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup, Friday evening at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.

The 29-year old former PBA scoring champion completed a 4-point play and then followed it up with an unmolested layup off a steal to give the Beermen a comfortable 9-point lead, 106-97, with 1:45 left on the game clock.

The victory propped up the Leo Austria-mentored squad to a tie with Meralco for second place in the team standings with identical 5-2 records while the loss dropped the Gin Kings further down with a 3-4 slate.

“Since the start of this semi-bubble, going to Clark, Pampanga, we’ve been really preparing for big games, especially the last two games, we had Talk ‘N Text and Ginebra, ” said Austria during the post-game press conference.

“Because of the cancellation of some games, we were expecting that TNT and Ginebra would be our opponents because there is no other way. I am so happy we were able to get some time to prepare for the last two games of ours,” he added.

LA Tenorio paced Brgy. Ginebra with 19 points to go with a game-high 11 assists while Christian Standhardinger added 18 markers. Stanley Pringle finished with 16 points, his best performance of the conference so far, while Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson chipped in 15 and 13 markers, respectively. The two team veterans similarly hauled down a team-high 8 rebounds.

Lassiter, meanwhile, backstopped Romeo with 19 points highlighted by 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc while Arwind Santos, Chris Ross and CJ Perez also had significant contributions as the trio accounted for 15, 14 and 13 markers, respectively.

Six-time league MVP June Mar Fajardo had a quiet night but still managed to put in a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Beermen take on Rain or Shine in their next assignment while the Gin Kings clash with league-leader TNT. Both matches are scheduled on Sunday, September 12 at the same venue.

The scores:

San Miguel 111 – Romeo 29, Lassiter 19, Santos 15, Perez 14, Ross 13, Fajardo 10, Tautuaa 8, Pessumal 3, Gotladera 0.

Brgy. Ginebra 102 – Tenorio 19, Standhardinger 18, Pringle 16, J. Aguilar 15, Thompson 13, Caperal 8, Tolentino 8, Mariano 3, Devance 2, Dillinger 0, Ayaay 0.

Quarterscores: 28-22, 56-48, 82-74, 111-102.