Terrence Romeo leads scoring barrage vs Ginebra as SMB makes it back-to-back wins

Terrence Romeo dropped a monster performance as the San Miguel Beermen picked up a big victory over sister team Barangay Ginebra, 111-102, to make it back-to-back wins in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup Friday in Bacolor, Pampanga.

Romeo poured in 29 points to go with two rebounds and six assists while five other Beermen registered double-digit outputs.

Marcio Lassiter finished with 19 points and Arwind Santos added 15. CJ Perez, Chris Ross, and June Mar Fajardo all contributed at least 10 as SMB improved to 5-2.

Ginebra, on the other hand, dropped to 3-4.

LA Tenorio led the squad with a double-double performance of 19 markers and 11 assists, a feat that allowed him to move past PBA legend Olsen Racela on the all-time career assists list with a total of 3,090 dimes.

The Beermen were on fire from the get-go after unleashing 13 triples in the first half, three of which came from Romeo in the first quarter and another three from Perez in the second canto, as they grabbed the lead going into the half, 56-48.

Ginebra, the reigning All-Filipino champions, though, put up some fight after the break with Christian Standhardinger completing a three-point play to cut the deficit at 64-60, with SMB still in the lead.

SMB's lead ballooned once more after a 13-7 blitz highlighted by six points from Romeo and Fajardo, 77-67. Santos then capped the third quarter with a fastbreak layup off a steal from Perez, 82-74.

Romeo continued to wax hot in the payoff period to finish off what he had started.

Ginebra was able to come as close as three, 100-97, after Staney Pringle sank two free throws but Romeo buried a triple and drew a foul from Scottie Thompson en route to a four-point play, 104-97, with barely two minutes left in the game.

Romeo then stole the basket from Ginebra and shot the basket to complete a personal 6-0 run before drawing a foul again from Japeth Aguilar and sank three baskets on the charity stripes to seal the deal for SMB, 111-102.

Fajardo posted a double-double output of 10 points and 10 boards while Perez and Ross chipped in with 14 and 13, respectively.

Standhardinger scored 18 points for Ginebra while Pringle added 16 markers.

The scores:

San Miguel (111) - Romeo 29, Lassiter 19, Santos 15, Perez 14, Ross 13, Fajardo 10, Tautuaa 8, Pessumal 3, Gotladera 0.

Ginebra (102) - Tenorio 19, Standhardinger 18, Pringle 16, Aguilar 15, Thompson 13, Caperal 8, Tolentino 8, Mariano 3, Devance 2, Ayaay 0, Dillinger 0.

Quarterscores: 28-22, 56-48, 82-74, 111-102.

—JMB, GMA News