THE San Miguel Beermen finally scored a breakthrough win in the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), coming at the expense of the Philippine Patriots, 78-70, Saturday night in a battle between two of the country’s top local teams at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Import Dalron Johnson dominated for the Beermen with a double-double output of 23 points and 11 rebounds, while limiting the production of Patriots counterpart Nakiea Miller to just 15 markers.

The 6-foot-9 Johnson added three assists and two block shots in the win that atoned the Beermen’s 77-83 overtime loss to the Westports Malaysia Dragons when they made their debut in the growing regional cage meet.

“I knew it’s going to be a tough game for us but the guys played very well,” said SMB coach Bobby Parks. “And I take my hat off to the Patriots. They came to play.”

The Beermen and Patriots are now tied with three others with similar 1-1 (win-loss) record.

The Malaysia Dragons earlier notched their second straight win by drubbing the Indonesia Warriors, 93-80, for the solo lead and the only unbeaten team in the eight-team field, while the Bangkok Cobras edged out defending champion Chang Thai Slammers, 71-67, for their first win in the tournament.

The win was the second by the Beermen over the Patriots, the league’s inaugural champion, counting their victory when the two teams met in the finals of the pre-season tournament held in Bangkok last month.

New import Doug Thomas and locals Leo Avenido, June Mar Fajardo and Benedict Fernandez also contributed to the Beermen’s cause. 

Thomas, taking over previous choice Richard Jeter, had 14 points and six rebounds in his debut, while Avenido scored the same number of points in 23 minutes off the bench.

Anthony Johnson led the Patriots with 25 points, but the rest of the squad struggled anew against its much taller opponents.

The Beermen led for most of the way, but found the Patriots breathing within 60-63 when Johnson and Avenido came through with clutch baskets to thwart any endgame comeback by the team of coach Glenn Capacio.

The scores:

SAN MIGUEL 78 - Johnson 23, Avenido 14, Thomas 14, Fernandez 8, Fajardo 6, Rizada 4, dela Pena 3, Luanzon 2, Baguion 2, Cabatu 2, Mangahas 0.

PH PATRIOTS 70 - Johnson 25, Miller 15, Vergara 13, Rodriguez 6, Ramos 5, Fernandez 4, Wainwright 2, Ybanez 0, Arellano 0, Juntilla 0, Larong 0.

Quarters: 21-17; 40-32; 60-50; 78-70.