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St. Michael’s coach Jorge Galent. PBA PICTURES
ANTIPOLO—Coach Jorge Galent wasn’t too worried when San Miguel Beer’s lead was cut to 10 midway through a Phoenix fight with 5:49 remaining.
After all, the Beermen feature an experienced crew with multiple championships led by six-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo.
“When the lead goes down, it’s a challenge for the team to recover, so they did it. When our lead went down we didn’t panic at all. We just stayed composed and the lead went up again. We didn’t go into the panic phase,” said Galent, who replaced Leo Austria took the lead before the final conference of the season ended.
“This team has a lot, if the lead goes from 30 to 10, I’m sure they can still survive,” he said.
Galent was right as the Beermen responded by closing out the game with a 17-6 run.
However, Gallent reminded his players to stay locked in from start to finish after the Beermen blew a 33-point lead.
“We can’t relax. We definitely have to play the whole 48 minutes. If we relax, we give our opponents a chance to come back, so we have to play hard for 48 minutes, whether you come off the bench or start, you have to keep that energy when you enter the field.
Fajardo paced the Beermen with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 13 rebounds, while Cameron Clark led all scorers with 23 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals.
“Our team is built with great veterans who have won a lot of championships so it’s even better when you can learn with a lot of vets. Part of the calmness comes from them,” said San Miguel guard Simon Enciso, who was also solid with 14 points in the top nine assist.
Three more finished in double figures for the Beermen with CJ Perez adding 18, Allyn Bulanadi adding 16 off the bench and Marcio Lassiter adding 11.
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