Terrafirma coach Johnedel Cardel downplayed any notion of having San Miguel Beer’s number following his team’s shock overtime win in the resumption of the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Dyip’s 110-104 upset at the Don Honorio Ventura State University made it three victories against the powerhouse Beermen in six games since Cardel took charge in the 2018 Governors’ Cup.
But Cardel preferred to credit the result to the way his players performed during the contest that saw Terrafirma prevail despite missing Joshua Munzon (dislocated finger) and Roosevelt Adams (amebiasis) and falling behind by 16 in the third quarter.
“Hindi naman po. Talagang bumagsak lang yung panalo sa amin,” Cardel said when asked about the secret to making SMB its frequent victim.
“My players worked hard kaya siguro nanalo kami. And we really wanted to win this game versus a strong team kaya siguro bumagsak yung panalo sa amin.”
Incidentally, the Dyip’s triumph came at the expense of their former player CJ Perez, who was part of the previous two victories against the Beermen.
Perez’s 26 points in his PBA debut on Jan. 18, 2019 gave the Dyip a 124-118 win over the Beermen in the Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome before combining with import Lester Prosper to take a 134-132 overtime victory on Jun 30, 2019 in the Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Cardel hailed his team for stepping up with Munzon ruled out of the conference and Adams out of commission at least for the SMB matchup.
Juami Tiongson stood out as Terrafirma’s best player in the comeback win with a career-high 28 points after trailing 67-51 in the third.
“I tell my players na kung sino yung maganda nilalaro, you can play a lot of minutes inside,” said Cardel, whose team will have its work cut out Friday, Sept. 3 against defending champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.