ABL: San Miguel Beermen swallow Slammers, earn 15th straight win

The San Miguel Beermen captured their 15th straight victory in the Asean Basketball League, this time rolling past the Sports Rev Thailand Slammers, 76-69, on Saturday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

San Miguel appears ready to run away with the best elimination round record, improving to 18-3. The Slammers on the other hand tied the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers at 7-14, a spot above the cellar-dwelling Saigon Heat.

The Beermen barely got threatened in the first quarter. Up three after a Froilan Baguion make at the 4:38 mark, San Miguel would go on to stage an 11-4 run to end the period, capped by five points in the final minute from Jeric Fortuna and import Justin Williams, 22-12.

The Slammers were able to bring the lead down to eight at the 7:01 mark after a basket by Christien Charles, but treys from Leo Avenido and JR Cawaling kept Thailand at bay. A pair of free throws from Eric Menk made it a 13-point game with four minutes left, as a split by RJ Rizada handed SMB an 11-point lead at the half, 38-27.

San Miguel only had a slight advantage at the break, scoring on 12-of-34 attempts from the field while the Slammers went 11-of-32. The Beermen hauled down more rebounds though, tallying 26 to Thailand's 17.

Asi Taulava led SMB with nine points, 11 rebounds and one steal, while Fortuna had seven points and two assists. Only three Beermen fielded in were scoreless at the half.

Christien Charles led Thailand with 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals, while Wutipong Dasom had three. Danai Kongkum and Kannawat Lertlaokul had two each as no other Slammer scored.

Early buckets from Darius Brannon and Kannut Samerjai cut the lead to seven at the 8:25 mark, 38-31, but the Beermen went on to unleash a 21-8 run for a 59-39 spread after a Justin Williams slam with two minutes remaining in the third.

A split by Charles and a Sukhdavb Ghogar make off a Tonino Gonzaga assist stopped the bleeding for Thailand, but free throws from Justin Williams kept SMB up comfortably after three, 61-42.

More charities, this time from Menk and Val Acuna, made it a 22-point game at the 8:08 mark. The Beermen went up by as much as 24, before back-to-back hits by Gonzaga, followed by baskets from Kongkum and Charles, made it a 16-point game, with 3:54 remaining on the clock.

Things got interesting in the final two minutes, as Brannon strung four points together to cut their deficit to 12. After a Gonzaga bucket, Fortuna finally scored for SMB with 56 seconds remaining, a split from the line. Gonzaga would hit again, but a short stab by Menk secured the win for the home team, 76-69. - AMD, GMA News