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Arwind Santos' historic night spoiled as Q4 blast lifts SMB past NorthPort

CJ Perez soars for the slam. PBA Images
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--On a night when Arwind Santos joined an elite group of PBA scoring machines, his former team mauled his current squad with a solid endgame to spoil the fun.

San Miguel broke loose in the fourth quarter to clip NorthPort, 122-106, in their Philippine Cup battle on Saturday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

While the Beermen failed to delay Santos' entry to the 10,000 Points Club, they kept the Batang Pier from snapping their losing streak as the former's free-fall after an excellent start to the conference continued.

Needing only 13 points to break the 10,000-point barrier, Santos scored on a jumper with 11:24 left in the third quarter, his 14th in the contest, to become only the 17th member of the elite scoring group and the only one among the active players this PBA Philippine Cup.

However, SMB still had the last laugh after outscoring NorthPort, 40-24, in the final period to pull away from what had been a tight battle for most of the first three quarters.

June Mar Fajardo and Robbie Herndon each scored 21 points to lead the Beermen, who are once again solo first placers in the team standings at 6-1.

CJ Perez, who got his first career triple-double in their last game against the Converge FiberXers last week, came close to another one with 17 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds with one steal.

Santos finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, three assists, five blocks, and two steals for the Batang Pier, who absorbed their fifth straight loss after going 2-0 to start the conference.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno

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