Beermen demolish third straight foe, and new coach Gallent excited to see how his squad would stack up in clash with Hotshots

San Miguel Beer on Friday matched the results of their previous two games to continue their undefeated start under new coach Jorge Galent in the PBA Governors Cup.

Now comes the first difficult phase of Galent’s youth beginning Sunday against Magnolia.

“It will be a tough game [against Magnolia]”Galent said after the Beermen bucked a slow start to produce a 122-102 humbling Terrafirma at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

The 20-year-old victory of Dyip, who came to the game just a week removed from the upset victory of Meralco Bolts, mirrored the margin Beermen produced in the walloping Phoenix Fuel Masters (114-93) and Blackwater Bossing (105- 86).

TNT improved to 3-1 later in the night after a 93-85 nipping of the Hotshots where Roger Pogoy scored 20 points.

But against the Magnolia side known to meet grind-out, Gallent sees the match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum as a fun task if San Miguel can keep the offense that has produced 114.3 points on average and the defense that produced only 93.7 points at night.

“This [Magnolia game] will test us on Sunday—if our defense and offense are really going to work,” Galent added.

Before setting their sights on the Beermen, the Hotshots arrive on Friday night to face another perennial contender at TNT Tropang Giga looking to bounce back from their weekend loss to league-leading Converge FiberXers.

Magnolia is actually the first match of a big game for San Miguel, with Meralco next on February 9 and Converge, undefeated at 4-0, on February 11.

Gallent should get similar production from import Cameron Clark, who had 31 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and three blocks, against the Hotshots.

And on an evening when June Mar Fajardo took the back seat with six-point, nine-rebound and six-assist production, local Beermen like CJ Perez, Jericho Cruz and Allyn Bulanadi were delivered.

Perez had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Cruz had nine points, four rebounds and four assists before a second technical foul for taunting Terrafirma import Jordan Williams after Clark’s transition jam led to an ejection late in the third.

Bulanadi again put up impressive numbers with 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench, justifying the Beermen’s steal from NorthPort, which got role player Paul Zamar.

Cold shot

A great second quarter that saw Beermen outscoring Dyip, 38-23, led to another blowout while limiting what Williams did, compared to two games against FiberXers and Bolts.

Williams finished with 30 points, but the way the Beermen defended he shot just 11 of 26 from the field.

They started the conference with 46 points, but Terrafirma lost to Converge. They had 29 points despite winning 9 of 23 in their win over Meralco.

“It’s bound to happen. We’re invincible,” Galent said after San Miguel had to endure a slow start before taking control of Terrafirma. “They started strong and we started flat. But the best thing is that after three to four minutes, we got up and brought the San Miguel basket.

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