Lassiter fuels Petron’s 4th quarter run to beat Barako Bull in Game 1

Marcio Lassiter of Petron. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Marcio Lassiter came alive in the fourth quarter as Petron Blaze pulled away late to beat Barako Bull, 101-88, and gain a 1-0 headstart in their best-of-three quarterfinals series in the 2014 PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Lassiter had just four points in the first half before finding his groove in the final frame, where the Boosters completed their comeback from 12 points down.

“I just want to give a lot of credit to the Barako Bull team. It’s just a good thing we managed to clamped down on defense and hit our outside shots in the second half,” said Petron coach Gee Abanilla. “Great turnaround by the guys.”

Lassiter, who returned Tuesday after attending the wake of his grandmother in the US, fired 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter alone, where Petron turned a seven-point deficit to a 99-82 lead after an Alex Cabagnot 3-pointer with 2:11 left.

“Marcio Lassiter just came back from the States and gave us contribution right away.”

Cabagnot and Arwind Santos also had 17 points while June Mar Fajardo, like Lassiter, recovered from a poor first half outing to post 15 points, 12 in the last two quarter.

Game 2 is on Friday also at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

The winner of this series will take on the winner of the Rain or Shine and GlobalPort bracket which unfolds Wednesday with the no.2 Elasto Painters owning a twice-to-beat-advantage.

Willie Miller and Ronjay Buenafe paced the sixth-seeded Energy with 17 points.