MANILA - San Miguel Beer coach Jorge Gallent said he is glad his troops are adjusting well despite the absence of their main man June Mar Fajardo who was diagnosed with an MCL injury.
The Beermen's bench stepped up big time to complete a 120-106 close out of NLEX on Wednesday and bag a twice-to-beat advantage going to the playoffs.
Aside from Cameron Clark's 45-point output and CJ Perez's 23 points contribution, San Miguel got much-needed help from Jericho Cruz and Allain Bulanadi.
Cruz came off the bench to tally 16 markers, while Bulanadi recorded 14.
“I think it’s about the players stepping up. They knew June Mar was injured, they stepped up, which is good. They learned how to win and play without the big boy,” said Gallent following their victory.
The Beermen had to do without Fajardo for now after “The Kraken” went down with an injured knee he sustained during the EASL Champions Week.
Although the injury will not require surgery, Fajardo is expected to miss much of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Gallent said he also welcomes the return of Terrence Romeo.
Romeo, the league's three-time scoring champion, suited up during their game against NLEX, though it's quite obvious he still hasn't fully recovered from a grade 2 hamstring strain that grounded him in the Beermen's first nine games of the tournament.
He went scoreless in his first game back as Gallent just tried to break in Romeo by playing him for just two minutes.
"I'm just happy he's back. Everybody's happy that Terrence is back," said the San Miguel coach. "I just hope he's fully recovered so that he can get his game back."
Romeo, who previously also missed a part of the Commissioner's Cup due to a back injury, admitted he has yet to get his usual timing after being out of action for more than two months.
"Malayo pa talaga doon sa usual na laro ko. Pero slowly lang, unti-unti na iwo-workout ko siya," he said.
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