Beermen trounce Fuel Masters in emotional clash

Arwind Santos soars for the jam. Dennis Acosta

By Xy-Zha Cabanlong

PASAY—It was a pretty intense Game 4 of the semis series between San Miguel and Phoenix at the Cuneta Astrodome, Tuesday night.

In the end, though, the Beermen walked away with a one-sided 114-91 victory over the Fuel Masters.

Terrence Romeo led the Beermen to their third win in their semis series, bouncing off from their loss to the Fuel Masters last Sunday.

Romeo fired 17 huge points from the third quarter alone, nine of which came from three consecutive triples that he fired within matters of minutes from each other.

In an unfortunate time, Phoenix had suffered a huge blow as early as the second quarter with Alex Mallari getting thrown out of the ball game due to double technical fouls off that scuffle with Matt Ganuelas-Rosser.

Ganuelas-Rosser was also called for a technical foul but stayed in the game.

Just before halftime, JP Mendoza was slapped with a Flagrant Foul Penalty 1 that required him to sit out of the game for 3 minutes.

As intense as it was, San Miguel managed to dominate the entire ball game, leading as much as 11 points at halftime.

"The players wanted to win, they wanted to bounce back and it happened tonight," said San Miguel Beermen Head Coach Leo Austria.

True to its word, the Beermen continued to give the Fuel Masters a hard time that they could not even come close in cutting the advantage.

Adding more blow to the already struggling Fuel Masters, Mendoza was called for a technical foul due to use of profane language while in the bench. Such infraction paved way for him to be sent off the court.

Less than a minute to play, Ron Dennison had to sit out for 5 minutes due to the Flagrant Foul Penalty 1 called against him.

More of the hot heads came by at the fourth, with LA Revilla being called for a foul, Arwind Santos was also slapped with a Technical due to taunting and Jason Perkins earning the same foul due to second motion.

"It's hard to beat Phoenix. I have to commend their coaches for allowing their players to do what they want. This is not an easy game. Phoenix still has a chance," added Austria

Austria commended the stellar performance by Terrence Romeo, who walked away with 20 points off the ball game.

"He is the main man tonight. His talent is really important in our team but he has to use it in the right way. I'm happy for Romeo kasi nag take-over sya and that is what we want from him," Austria said.

San Miguel leads the semis series, 3-1, and can clinch a spot in the finals on Thursday night.

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