SMB is still winless in EASL vs. Pilots; Jericho Cruz ejected

The San Miguel Beermen received their second straight loss, 101-85, in a fight-marred East Asia Super League (EASL) game against Taoyuan Pauian Pilots at the PhilSports Arena last night.

Taoyuan exploded for a 32-13 bomb in the second quarter of the game to create an early separation, then fended off every uprising that the Beermen mounted.

Early in the fourth quarter, Jericho Cruz hardly hacked Pilot’s import Alec Brown’s arm that the latter did not appreciate. Brown then swung an elbow intended for Cruz but missed the target.

Quincy Miller shoved Brown to the SMB bench before Cruz, slapped the face of the Taoyuan reinforcement.

The Pilots were well ahead at 86-68 with 6:32 left in the final period when the incident happened.

Brown and Miller, meanwhile, were slammed with a technical and an unsportsmanlike foul respectively, while Cruz earned a disqualifying foul which led to his early exit in the fourth quarter. 

In an interview,  Brown said that the game was emotional and he thinks that he overreacted and luckily no one got hurt so bad. 

“The game was emotional. I kind of reacted to what I thought was a foul. Maybe I overreacted. It escalated more than I hoped it would. Luckily, no one got hurt, no one really did too much,” said Brown.

Brown, fired up 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half to help the Pilots have a 57-33 cushion as they pulled away after a slim 25-20 edge in the opening quarter.

On the other hand, Miller put San Miguel on his back with 32 points and six rebounds, but he lacked help from his teammates as the Beermen found no answers for the Taoyuan trio of Brown, Traevor Graham and skipper Lu Chun Hsiang who shot 25 apiece.

Meanwhile, Don Trollano ended up as the only other Beermen local in double-figures with markers. 

SMB assistant coach, Peter Martin admitted that they are disappointed with the two outcomes they had in the game. He also gave credit to the performance of Miller who showed up in the game despite falling short again and having a hard time adjusting in the international ball competition. 

“We are disappointed with the two outcomes that we had,” said Martin. “We thought we had a better chance tonight but apparently, we felt short again. We are having a hard time adjusting to the international ball, but Quincy showed up tonight.”

The scores:

Taoyuan Pauian Pilots 101 – Brown 27, Graham 25, Lu 25, Pai 11, Li 5, Lin 2, Dieng 2, Chen 2, Kuan 2, Lin 0, Qiao 0.

San Miguel 85 – Miller 32, Trollano 13, Anosike 8, Perez 8, Fajardo 7, Tautuaa 5, Romeo 4, Cruz 4, Rosales 3, Ross 1, Teng 0, Brondial 0.

Quarters: 25-20; 57-33; 83-56; 101-85.