IT was the Jeron Teng show for the San Miguel Beermen as the former UAAP Finals MVP carried the defending champions to a 93-84 crucial win over Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings to level their PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Wednesday, Jan. 7.
The former King Archer tallied 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists in 15 minutes of action, including the timely baskets in the last period that provided the Beermen their much-needed push to get the trailing Gin Kings off their back.
“My mentality is to just be ready whenever my number is called,” Teng said after his astounding Game 2 performance that helped San Miguel to even the series to one game apiece.
Even head coach Leo Austria expressed his “guilt” after not playing Teng in the Beermen’s 99-90 series opener loss three nights earlier.
“Pure guts para kay Jeron ‘yung fourth quarter, kasi first game I was not able to use him because of something in my mind. I felt guilty na guilty ako nung first game, ‘di ko siya nagamit,” Austria said.
He also lauded the overall bench production of his team, with them scoring 44 points off the reserves.
“I’m happy with our bench, because most of the contributions came from them,” Austria added.
Aside from Teng, other bench players who stepped up for the reigning All-Filipino champions were Jericho Cruz, who contributed 11 points, three rebounds, and three assists, and Don Trollano, who registered 12 points and five rebounds.
With San Miguel struggling in the early goings of the match, it was the nine-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo who kept them in striking distance. The front-runner for the Best Player of the Conference award had a night for himself, dominating both ends of the floor as he finished with an insane double-double stat line of 21 points and 23 rebounds. This output made Fajardo the first local player in the play-by-play era to have three consecutive games of 20-20 stat.
On the other side of the floor, Stephen Holt and RJ Abarrientos delivered 18 points each for the Barangay, while Norbert Torres had 10 markers, also in a losing effort.
After Ginebra snapped its 10-game winning streak in the opener, San Miguel returned the favor and gave the Gin Kings a dose of their own medicine. With this win, the Beermen halted Ginebra’s streak of eight straight victories, which spanned all the way from the midway point of the elimination round.
The Game 3 showdown between the sister teams from San Miguel Corp. will take place on Friday night, January 9, at the same venue, with both teams eyeing to get the crucial series lead in the now Best-of-5 semifinals.