Cabagnot strikes twice in clutch for Beermen
MANILA—Hitting game-winning shot at the buzzer is hard enough. Making two straight is even more difficult.
Alex Cabagnot pulled off the feat with flair, lifting San Miguel to a share of the early lead in the PBA Philippine Cup last week.
The 5-foot-11 Fil-Am playmaker from Hawaii first did the trick in a 99-97 nipping of Alaska last Wednesday, sinking a floater with three-tenths of a second left.
Much to San Miguel’s delight and B-Meg Derby Ace’s dismay, Cabagnot repeated his heroics three nights later in a thrilling 85-83 triumph.
With time winding down, Cabagnot drove past one of the league’s top backcourt defenders, Roger Yap, sidestepped past Rico Maierhofer before throwing up an off-balanced reverse layup over Maierhofer’s flailing arms with one-tenths of a second remaining.
“Alex is a smart player,” said rookie SMB coach Ato Agustin of Cabagnot, the No. 2 pick in the 2005 Draft, who was the unanimous choice for Accel-PBA Press Corps’ Player of the Week for the period Oct. 25 to 31.
“He can drive, he can shoot that’s why I always tell him that if he’s free, take the shot,” San Miguel coach Ato Agustin said of his prized guard, who wound up with 10 points and as many assists in the win against Alaska.
Agustin, in his first tournament in charge of the Beermen, has yet to lose a game, thanks to Cabagnot, who has thrived in pick-and-roll plays in the clutch.
“I just told him that if he gets trapped he should find the open man,” Agustin said after the Llamados game. “But Alex did a good job just like in the Alaska game.”
Those last two games formed the tailend of a 5-1 slate, a league-leading card matched by Talk ‘N Text the following night when the Texters forged a 93-83 victory over Alaska Saturday night.
Jason Castro scored 14 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter to power Talk ‘N Text.
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