San Miguel gained the quarterfinals top seeding while pushing Pop Cola on the brink of elimination as the Beermen took advantage of Watson’s so-so performance in the third to the last playdate of the one round-robin elims.
It was a swift, decisive win for the Beermen as they virtually put the game away right in the first half.
For the Panthers, it was a sorry loss with the ballclub even making a drastic move of enlisting Watson to fire up its bid for an outright entry into the quarterfinals.
The gamble backfired for the Panthers, who, instead, moved on the brink of elimination as they closed out their stint in the elims with a 3-6 win-loss mark.
Ending up with a 7-2 mark in the elims, San Miguel enters the quarters with the No. 1 seeding and with a twice-to-beat advantage versus the No. 8 squad.
"We don’t know yet who will be the No. 8 team but I hope we can sustain the momentum of our strong finish in in the quarters," said coach Jong Uichico. The Beermen closed out their elims stint with three straight wins.
San Miguel could afford to lose the game and still keep a crack at the top seeding but the Beermen instead scored the biggest rout in the tournament.
"Mahirap talaga para sa Pop Cola na magpakita ng maganda dahil bago ang import nila. Of course, nangangapa pa siya sa game natin. Ang masama sa kanila, nasabay pa na maganda ang inilaro namin," said Uichico.
So amazing were the Beermen in the contest which they dominated from start to finish while shooting 58 percent from the field.
They took a 63-29 lead at halftime and even padded that spread to as many as 37 points, 83-46, with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Nate Johnson erupted for 32 points and 10 rebounds while Danny Ildefonso came through with 18 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds to pace the Beermen who also drew double-digit outputs from Nic Belasco, Freddie Abuda and Dan Seigle.
Watson finished with 22 points but most of them came when the Beermen were unassailably ahead.