San Miguel stretched its winning streak in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup after beating Blackwater with a massive score of 116-92 on Saturday, December 13. This match at Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo brought a bitter taste to Blackwater and left San Miguel with an enormous seven-game streak without losing its imprint on the cops. 

San Miguel was in complete control of the game from the opening stage. They limited Blackwater to only 16 points in the first period while having a double-digit lead. Their balanced offense and tight defense left the Bossings trailing throughout the game. Although Blackwater came strong with 35 points in the third quarter, the same number quoted 35 by San Miguel in the fourth quarter by San Miguel sealed the victory. 

The win strengthened San Miguel’s record to 7-2. This deadlocked them with Rain or Shine at the top of the heap. Interestingly, the Beermen had a spectacular recovery after 0-2: the first thing they did was to recover, and it’s now getting closer to becoming a major title contender. Continued disappointment, however, the Bossing slipped to a record of 1-9, still unable to get a hold of contending teams. It has been said that they are looking for answers as the elimination round nears its end. 

Once again, it is the depth of San Miguel, shining yet again with various players helping out on both offense and defense for the match. The ability to share scoring load and keep intensity levels totally showed why they are the toughest squads in the league. Blackwater showed flashes of fight in the middle quarters. However, the team could not keep pace with what the Beermen had offensively and execution-wise. 

San Miguel continues its way toward victory with optimism to win against Columbian Dyip on December 17 at Ynares. Meanwhile, Blackwater hopes to recover soon before facing Talk N Text on December 19 to conclude its elimination round. 

Along with the victory, San Miguel is on the move toward the top four and a twice-to-beat edge. On the other hand, Blackwater continues to struggle. They are now looking forward to a better end of the season.

On that match day, a ticket to the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup was secured for TNT by thrashing NLEX at the Ynares Center on Saturday by that score of 119. Off the blocks, Calvin Oftana with Jordan Heading and Rey Nambatac, and quickly from there, the big game was pulled out from NLEX. 

The Tropang 5G thus gained six out of nine. Other than the six teams that came, Rain or Shine, San Miguel, Magnolia, Converge, and NLEX were leaving for the next round in this case. Scores led by Heading were 32, with 12 in the second quarter, to Oftana’s 19-10 in the first quarter, while Nambatac finished with 15 for the Tropang 5, G still missing the veteran sniper Roger Pogoy. 

After the match, Coach Chot Reyes remarked that the goal was to have a complete match. In the previous two games, they had started strong but ultimately fell off during the second halves. The theme for practice prior to this game was to try to put together a complete performance and sustain it for all 48 minutes. TNT also missed the services of big man Poy Erram, who had flown out for Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday morning as a last-minute inclusion for his campaign in this ongoing 33rd Southeast Asian Games with Gilas Pilipinas. But the combined help of the whole Tropang 5G kept them glued together, with Khobuntin ending with 11 points, while Williams notched nine, and Ganuelas-Rosser, who contributed to the rebounds, finished the match with a total of 10 boards. Rival scorer Robert Bolick was also there with Gilas Pilipinas at the SEA Games. Thus, the Road Warriors met back-to-back defeats. The standings now sit at 6-4, and alone in fourth place. This only depletes the chances of finishing within the top four for the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinal round. Both JB Bahio and Kevin Alas have stayed ready to shoulder the load of NLEX in the absence of Bolick. Both players scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.