-
-
-
SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
-
-
-
-
04
-
25
-
2024
-
SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
25
2024
MARCIO Lassiter boomed in a last-second triple, enabling San Miguel Beer to come out a 94-93 winner over NLEX Friday and grab a share of the early lead in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With his team down by two and only 6.9 seconds left, coach Leo Austria designed a play that specifically aimed at Lassiter, with import Arizona Reid acting as decoy.
Lassiter actually missed his first six tries from beyond the arc, but did not disappoint when it mattered most.
Getting the ball up high from Reid, the gunner who would have been a shoo-in for the Gilas Pilipinas team if not for a bout with broncopneumonia, dribbled thrice to his right, squared up and launched his shot that hit nothing but net.
“Nasa bingit na kami ng kamatayan until Marcio hit that three-pointer,” admitted Austria, whose team led by as many as 17 twice early in the third quarter, only to find itself trailing by 88-93, only 64 seconds to go.
Instead, the Beermen followed up their 124-113 conquest of Phoenix last Sunday and moved alongside idle leaders Meralco and Mahindra on identical 2-0 slates.
The loss dropped NLEX to an even 1-1 record, notwithstanding Henry Walker’s 33 points, six rebounds and four assists. He, however, missed the rim completely on a turnaround, one-handed jumper that could have stretched the Road Warriors’ 93-91 lead.
That led to an Arizona Reid rebound and pass to Lassiter, who called the timeout for the deciding play.
Reid finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but scored only four of his markers in the second half after suffering what Austria said was a hit on the back of the head during the third quarter.
The offensive slack was picked up the most by Alex Cabagnot, who racked up 10 of his 19 points in the third period and whose quick three in transition moved SMB to within 91-93, still 27 seconds left.
Lassiter finished with only eight points on 3-of-10 field shooting, but did collar nine rebounds.
June Mar Fajardo hit his first six shots before finishing with 16 markers and six boards.
Joans Villanueva was the only other NLEX player in double figures with 14, seven coming in the Road
Warriors’ fightback from a 43-60 deficit.
Although not fully recovered from an ankle injury, Sean Anthony managed to scrape for nine points and seven boards with seven of his points coming in the fourth quarter. His five straight points gave NLEX a 91-86 spread, a difference Asi Taulava maintained by draining a 15-footer for a 93-88 count.
The tight contest, eerily reminiscent of the four overtimes the two teams went through in their first two meetings this season, was a distant thought on everybody’s mind when SMB opened up the third period with a 7-0 surge to pad a 10-point halftime lead.
Chris Ross buried a triple, Reid scored on a putback and Cabagnot on a jumper as the Beermen erected their first 17-point bulge at 58-41.
Reid already had 19 points and seven rebounds in the first 24 minutes of play and got plenty of help from the likes of Fajardo, Ryan Arana, Gary David and Cabagnot in powering SMB to a 51-41 halftime lead.
Fajardo played just a little over 13 minutes in the first half and promptly went 6-for-6, while Arana and David also had four points each in the Beermen’s sustained surge from a 31-29 count.
For his part, Walker had 15 points capped by a floater that made it 31-34. But he picked up his third foul off an offensive on David Semerad with still 1:29 to go before the break and had to be benched.
Glenn Khobuntin, Emman Monfort and Enrico Villanueva tried to pick up the scoring slack but even their combined efforts could not prevent the Road Warriors from falling into the 10-point hole.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 94 – Reid 23, Cabagnot 19, Fajardo 16, David 13, Lassiter 8, De Ocampo 6, Arana 4, Ross 3, Reyes 2, Heruela 0, Semerad 0, Tubid 0.
NLEX 93 – Walker 33, Villanueva J. 14, Anthony 9, Villanueva E. 8, Akl 7, Khobuntin 6, Taulava 6, Alas 4, Lanete 3, Monfort 3, Baracael 0.
Quarters: 23-22, 51-41, 68-68, 94-93
Follow Us
Other Stories:
Recent Stories:
Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.