Chris Ross and CJ Perez nailed a pair of dagger triples as San Miguel asserted its mastery over Magnolia with a 98-92 victory in their first meeting since the last conference’s finals in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, April 26.

With the Hotshots threatening to complete their comeback from 20 points down, Ross drained a booming triple off a kick-out pass from June Mar Fajardo before finding a wide open CJ Perez who then buried another trey on the next possession to slam the door on Magnolia’s comeback.

The Beermen kept their record pristine through eight games but, more importantly, closed in on one of the coveted Top 2 spots which merit a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

The Hotshots, on the other hand, saw their four-game winning run snapped to fall to a 5-3 record in tie at the third spot with idle NLEX Road Warriors.

Perez led the way for SMB with 25 points but it was Ross who proved to be the difference, firing away 15 points, all of which coming from the three-point territory after just averaging 2.3 points in the Beermen’s first seven games.

Magnolia, which was forced to pick its poison between San Miguel’s dominant inside offense or the Beermen’s hot shooting from deep, paid dearly as they focused on clogging the paint to limit the touches of Fajardo.

While the Hotshots did succeed in making it difficult for Fajardo who only finished with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists, it was the Beermen’s gunner who feasted as they drilled a total of 16 treys.

Marcio Lassiter converted four of those to finish with 12 points while Mo Tautuaa had two to finish with 10 points.

Magnolia’s loss wasted a pair of conference-best showing from Paul Lee and Aris Dionisio. Lee broke out of his personal shooting slump to chalk up 23 points apart from seven rebounds and six assists while Dionisio chipped in 22 points and 10 rebounds.

The Beermen, fresh off a pair of dominant wins over Converge and NorthPort, hardly cooled down with their three-point shooting as they erected a 24-11 lead at the end of the opening frame.

The lead swelled to 20, 16-36, before the Hotshots started showing off their defensive fangs to cut the deficit to 11, 40-51, at the break. The trend continued for the Hotshots, coming closest at three, 89-92, after two free throws from Paul Lee. 

That, however, only set the table to Ross and Perez heroics as Magnolia couldn’t pull off the stops when it needed the most.