SMB STAYS PERFECT AS ROSS, PEREZ TREYS DOUSE MAGNOLIA COMEBACK

SAN Miguel held off a Magnolia rally to capture a 98-91 win on Friday and stay unbeaten in the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Timely threes by CJ Perez and Chris Ross enabled the Beermen to survive a Hotshots fightback that saw them nearly raze a 20-point deficit.

The Beermen now have an 8-0 win-loss record, stepping closer to claiming a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

SMB also moved three wins short of the first elims sweep in the league in a decade.

Magnolia’s four-game winning streak came to an end as it fell to 5-3.

Perez finished with 25 points with two of his threes coming in the fourth quarter. He nailed the dagger at the 1:03-mark to extend San Miguel’s lead to 95-89.

Ross had 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from threes. He buried a trey after the Beermen’s lead went down to two, 82-80, dousing the Hotshots rally.

2024-04-26T14:10:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd