Number one overall pick CJ Perez lived up to his lofty billing by leading the Columbian Dyip to a shocking upset of defending champion San Miguel Beer.
Led by rookie Perez, the Dyip stunned the Beermen, 124-116, to start its campaign in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on a high note with the victory at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City last night.
Expected to carry a heavy load right away, Perez did not disappoint as he justified all the hype by leading his team in crunch time and scoring a team-high 26 points with five rebounds to lead the way for the surprising Columbian uprising.
Perez’s layup with 2:40 remaining broke the deadlock and gave the Dyip a key 114-112 advantage.
After reigning Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo split his charities to make it 114-113 for Columbian, with under two minutes left, the Dyip closed it out.
Columbian racked up six consecutive points to make it 120-113 in the final minute, sealing the astonishing victory.
While Perez already showed his worth right away, he wasn’t alone in doing damage.
The Dyip also drew 21 markers from Jackson Corpuz and 15 from Reden Celda.
It was a nip-and-tuck battle throughout with the game being decided in the final two minutes.
Perez’s solid debut overshadowed PBA star Terrence Romeo’s underwhelming first game as a Beermen.
Romeo, formerly a PBA scoring champion, only scored two points in just 12 minutes of action as he was evidently still finding his way in the San Miguel system.
Arwind Santos’ explosive game went to waste as his game-high 34 points and seven rebounds weren’t enough to lift the heavily-favored Beermen.
Fajardo was neutralized as he only managed 16 markers for the Beermen.
Columbian joined Phoenix, Barangay Ginebra and NorthPort as the early winners.
