Fajardo-less SMB whips Macau for strong start in PBA Govs’ Cup

Sports

NOT even the absence of June Mar Fajardo and coach Leo Austria could stop the San Miguel Beermen from starting their campaign in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup in style after they trampled the Macau Giant Pandas, 123-109, on Tuesday night, July 14, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Fajardo sat out to rest an injured shoulder while Austria missed the game to attend to personal matters. Still, the Beermen rolled to a dominant win behind import George King, CJ Perez, Jericho Cruz, and Rodney Brondial.

Perez tallied 21 points and Cruz added 20 markers. Brondial more than filled the void left by Fajardo by scoring 10 points and grabbing 25 monster rebounds, allowing the Beermen to dominate the boards, 53-40.

San Miguel also drew a solid game from the debuting Jerrick Ahanmisi, who contributed 16 points.

De'Vondre Perry scored 25 points, Damian Chongqui and Kobe Lam each had 22 for Macau, which fell to 0-2 after also dropping its first assignment against the NLEX Road Warriors, 74-115.

THE SCORES:

SAN MIGUEL (123) – King 30, Perez 21, Cruz 20, Ahanmisi 16, Trollano 11, Tautuaa 10, Brondial 10, Lassiter 5, Ross 0, Hernandez 0, Calma 0, Cahilig 0.

MACAU (109) – Perry 25, Chongqui 22, Lam 22, Z. Zhang 10, Chao 9, Liu 8, Cao 8, Li 3, Y. Zhang 2, Zhu 0.QUARTERS: 24-30, 53-58, 89-86, 123-109.(CCM)