By REYNALD MAGALLON
Jerrick Ahanmisi caught fire from deep as San Miguel clobbered Titan Ultra with a resounding 143-105 beating to get back on the winning track in the PBA Season 50 Governors Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Wednesday, July 29.
Coming off a lackluster two-point performance in the Beermen’s first taste of defeat against the NLEX Road Warriors, Ahanmisi regained his shooting touch and fired 26 points built on four triples and a four.
Ahanmisi actually combined with import George King to preside over a huge 49-point explosion in the third frame.
The SMB gunner fired 12 of his total output while King erupted for 23 of his 35 points as the Beermen pulled away from a 61-58 halftime lead and established a huge 110-81 lead heading into the final frame.
Don Trollano finished with 22 points while Marcio Lassiter chipped in 13. Both Trollano and Lassiter had three triples each.
SMB did not even need a big game from June Mar Fajardo who was limited to just six points and six rebounds and CJ Perez who played sparingly due to an injury. The Beermen improved to a 4-1 record while Titan Ultra slid to a 1-5 slate.
Kobey Lam made the go-ahead layup with 10.2 seconds left as Macau made it back-to-back wins after a 96-92 victory over Terrafirma.
The Giant Pandas came alive in the second half and climbed back from 17 points down to turn back the Dyip and wrap up their first round assignments with a 2-4 record.
With the game tied 92-all, Lam came through with the big plays down the stretch, scoring the fastbreak layup off a crucial Jenning Leung steal on Maverick Ahanmisi.
He was also fouled during that sequence, and while he missed the bonus free throw, he took the ball away from Terrafirma import Justin Strings.
The Dyip had no other recourse but to foul, allowing Damian Chongqui to stretch the lead to 96-92. Terrafirma had the chance to send the game to an overtime but Juami Tiongson airballed his four-pointer.
Devondre Perry led the charge for Macau with 34 points and 14 rebounds while Chongqui finished with 29. Lam chipped in 12.
Justin Strings fired 34 points while Maverick Ahanmisi and Juami Tiongson chipped in 20 and 15 in a losing effort for the Dyip, who dropped to a 2-4 slate.
