ABL: Beermen shoot 50 percent, overwhelm Warriors

The San Miguel Beermen buried the Indonesia Warriors early and late, strengthening their hold of second place with a 77-61 win Saturday at the Mahaka Square. A 7-0 start by San Miguel became a 22-11 lead by the end of the game's first ten minutes, half coming from the Beermen's imports, Thomas Kim and Darlon Johnson. A basket by Kim in the third quarter stretched their lead to as high as 13, 54-41, 2:39 left in the third, but the Warriors were able to unleash an 11-3 run to close the period, making things more competitive entering the fourth down five, 57-52. However, the small break between quarters seemed to rob the Warriors of their momentum, as it took them nearly five minutes to score in the final period, on a Larry Smith basket with 5:20 left to play. By then, the Beermen had piled up nine unanswered points, making the lead 66-54. San Miguel then countered the Smith field goal with a triple by Allan Mangahas, putting them up 15 and putting the game out of reach as Indonesia managed just seven more points from that moment on. Thomas Kim finished with a game-high 23 points, plus seven rebounds and three assists. Leo Avenido was the only other Beerman in double figures, scoring 12 on 50 percent shooting. The team as a whole shot 50 percent as well, 33 for 66, with 20 of those shots assisted. Indonesia's imports Larry Smith and Steven Thomas combined for 34 points and 32 rebounds. Mario Wuysang added 10 points, all but one coming from beyond the arc. In contrast to San Miguel, Indonesia shot a poor 33 percent from the field including a 6 for 25 clip from beyond the arc. At 5-2, the Beermen are a game back of the other Philippine team, the AirAsia Patriots, who boast of a 6-1 card. Indonesia on the other hand, fell to 3-4.  - Adrian Dy/KBK, GMA News The scores: SMB (77) - Kim 23, Avenido 12, Baguion 8, Johnson 8, Cabatu 7, Mangahas 6, Fernandez 6, Gonzales 5, Rizada 2, Basco 0, De La Pena 0, Fajardo 0 IND (61) - Smith 18, Thomas 16, Wuysang 10, Canada 6, Prihantono 6, Gunawan 5, Legaspi 0 Quarter-scoring - 22-11, 38-28, 57-52, 77-61