B-MEG secured the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinal round with just one sizzling first quarter performance.

The Llamados banked on a 28-11 start in the first 12 minutes in booking a spot in the top two with an expected 86-74 win over Shopinas.com in the 2011 PBA Philippine Cup Thursday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

James Yap, Josh Urbiztondo and Marc Pingris were responsible in erecting that huge lead as B-MEG never looked back and stretched its winning run to a season-high eight games and finished the elimination round with a 10-4 slot.

For the Clickers, it was a forgettable maiden conference as the Bert Lina franchise registered the all-time longest losing streak in one conference with 14 games.

They are four defeats away of matching the all-time losing streak in PBA history in one season recorded by Great Taste in 1980.

“We played a very good first quarter. We wanted to make a statement early,” said Llamados head coach Tim Cone, who drew 18 points from Joe Devance.

“We had to go through this to focus on the playoffs. It’s still a waiting game on who we will play,” he added.

B-MEG could end up No. 1 and play Powerade in the quarterfinals if Talk ‘N Text (10-3) loses to Ginebra on Sunday. The Llamados have a better quotient over the Texters in case they end up tied at 10-4.

Urbiztondo added 11 points while Pingris also had 11 and collared 12 boards for the Llamados, who won despite Yap’s five-point performance, his lowest output in the tournament.

B-MEG never relinquished that double-digit lead and even padded that advantage to as high as 23 points, 59-36.

The closest Shopinas could get was at 11, 72-83, with 2:14 remaining left in the game.

“It was a tough conference for them but they showed character all the way through,” said Cone of the Clickers, who finished their first tournament with 0-14 mark. “Hats off to Franz (Pumaren) for keeping his guys playing.”

James Sena led Shopinas with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Elmer Espiritu added 16. Clickers enforcer Ogie Menor did not play due to a fractured hand.

Scores:

B-MEG 86 – De Vance 18, Urbiztondo 11, Pingris 11, Simon 10, Acuna 6, Barroca 5, Yap J. 5, Reavis 5, Raymundo 5, Yap R. 4, De Ocampo 4, Ferriols 2.

SHOPINAS.COM 74 – Sena 20, Espiritu 16, Escobal 12, Ritualo 7, Jazul 6, Sison 5, Duncil 4, Aquino 2, Hubalde 2, Canlas 0, Se 0.

Quarters: 28-11, 53-36, 72-56, 86-74.

Source: InterAKTV

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