PROPPED up by a fiery start and a sustained charge, San Miguel Beer passed its initial test with flying colors under new coach Jorge Gallent against Phoenix last Sunday night.
But Gallent, who took over from Leo Austria before the season-ending tourney kicked off, insisted his charges should be consistent in not letting their guards down.
“We just can’t relax. As I always tell them, we always have to play 48 minutes,” Gallent said. “If we tend to relax, we give our opponent chances to come back.
“We just have to play hard for 48 minutes, whether you come off the bench or you are starting,” he added.
Gallent spoke after the Beermen turned back the Fuel Masters 114-93 for a rousing start in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Import Cameron Clark scattered 23 points, on top of seven rebounds and three assists for SMB, while June Mar Fajardo chipped in 19 markers, 13 boards and two dimes.
CJ Perez and new addition Allyn Bulanadi also had 18 and 16 points, respectively, for the Beermen, who also drew 14 and 11 from Simon Enciso and Marcio Lassiter.
Phoenix absorbed its third straight loss, counting a sorry 105-108 defeat to Blackwater last Friday.
An erstwhile assistant to Austria and a former tactician of Magnolia (then known as B-Meg), Gallent expressed gratitude to San Miguel Corporation’s top honchos for giving him a chance to call the shots for the team.
“I’m very happy. Pressured, yes, but, you know, the management is always there to support us. So, there’s nothing to worry about,” Gallent said.
“I’m just very lucky that the bosses– Boss RSA (San Miguel Corporation president Ramon S. Ang), boss Al (SMC sports director Alfrancis Chua), boss Robert (Non, team governor)– gave me this opportunity to coach a great organization.”
Gallent admitted he has his work cut out for him after SMB fell short in the semifinals against foreign guest team Bay Area in the last Commissioner’s Cup.
“As I told them, we just have to fix little, minor things. But nothing major,” he said. “So, the things we were doing in the past few games, we just fixed it a little. Which we’re doing good.”
Reinforcement Du’Vaughn Maxwell paced the Fuel Masters with 21 points and 14 caroms, while Larry Muyang added 15 and two.
Jason Perkins and Encho Serrano also got 12 markers each for Phoenix.
