Barangay Ginebra came prepared with its best defense but San Miguel had too many weapons and made the Kings pay on Wednesday night, Jan. 24.

The defending champions managed to put a body and bother the Beermen’s twin towers of June Mar Fajardo and import Bennie Boatwright on the defensive end but spitfire guard CJ Perez rose to the occasion and did most of the damage for SMB.

Perez sparked SMB’s run in the final frame and went on to drop a conference-high 26 points. Big plays down the stretch from Perez including a huge offensive rebound in the waning seconds also sealed the 92-90 win for SMB.

“That‘s what that team has always been about. You put so much focus on June Mar, try to defend June Mar and now we have to defend Boatwright then they have other guys who can step up and do it right. Tonight it was CJ,” lamented Cone.

Ginebra seemed to have been caught blindsided by Perez’s explosion which wasted its efforts on putting the clamps down on both Boatwright and Fajardo.

Boatwright, after averaging a little over 40 points per contest for the Beermen, was limited to just 23 points on a measly 3-of-11 shooting from the deep. Fajardo, on the other hand, was limited to just two points in the first half before Ginebra’s defense collapsed due to Perez’s penetration.

Fajardo then went on to finish with 18 points – 16 of which came in the second half.

Cone said it was the same dilemma that teams had to face when SMB had its Death Five lineup that featured Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross and former Beermen Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot.

“They got different kinds of weapons and they got their own version of death five except that Boatwright is playing Arwind Santos’ role,” said Cone.

“It was tough. Like I said it was like Arwind and June Mar together on the ‘Death Five’ except Boatwright is five inches taller and 30 pounds heavier and shoots the ball as well as Arwind did so it just makes our job harder,” he added.

On top of Fajardo, Boatwright and Perez, SMB also still has the likes of Lassiter, Ross, Jericho Cruz, Don Trollano and even Terrence Romeo who sat out the series opener, all capable of exploding on any given night.

“Romeo didn't even play, he may come back on Friday but he could be the next guy to step up. Marcio, even Chris, they got a lot of weapons, also Trollano. That’s the kind of choices you make, you focus on June Mar and Boatwright, someone is gonna beat you. Tonight, it was CJ,” he added.