SAN MIGUEL EXITS ON HIGH NOTE
Virtually out of it all before the opening tip, the San Miguel Beermen gave themselves some consolation in taking a graceful exit in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup with a 106-94 drubbing of the GlobalPort Batang Pier at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night.
“Nice win to end our conference. It’s just unfortunate we struggled in our first few games after winning the Philippine Cup. But I’m happy to end this conference on a winning note,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“We were hoping for an NLEX win (earlier in the night) but it didn’t happen. I just hope that we learn from our lesson in this conference,” Austria also said.
Needing to win by more than 30 points to stay alive, the Beermen eventually bombed out of playoff contention with a closing 4-7 win-loss card.
Benefitting from San Miguel’s win were Barangay Ginebra (5-5) and Barako Bull (5-6) which automatically advanced to the quarterfinals.
Kia (4-7), together with San Miguel, moved out of the playoff race, leaving Alaska (4-6) and GlobalPort (4-7) as the two teams in the fight for the eighth and last slot in the Final Eight.
Alaska must beat Ginebra at the close of the elims Wednesday to land the quarters. By virtue of a superior quotient, GlobalPort will make it in case of an Alaska loss.
The Beermen banked on a strong finish to foil the Batang Pier’s bid for an outright quarters entry.
Ahead by just two at 94-92, the Beermen rode the exploits of Arizona Reid, June Mar Fajardo and Alex Cabagnot to win by 12 in the end.
It was still a close game, 94-100, before Cabagnot drained back-to-back dagger three-pointers.
Fajardo more than held his own against GlobalPort import Derrick Caracter with the 6-foot-10 Cebuano behemoth coming through with 31 points and 19 rebounds.
Reid added 20 points, Chris Ross, Cabagnot and Chris Lutz contributed at least 11 each while Arwind Santos chipped in 11 boards and nine markers.
Caracter delivered 18 points and 19 rebounds for the Batang Pier who continued to miss the services of the injury-stricken Stanley Pringle.
Terrence Romeo, Gabby Espinas and Ronjay Buenafe chipped in 15, 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Austria said they’re bringing back Reid as import in the Governors’ Cup. (SB)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
