PBA: Beermen weather Dollard’s 46-point night to nip Energy

Barako Bull’s Josh Dollard evades San Miguel’s Kevin Jones. Photo from Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel weathered a 46-point explosion from Barako Bull’s Joshua Dollard for a 106-100 victory Saturday in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

After Energy’s fiery comeback in the payoff period fueled by Dollard, the Beermen regained the lead for good with a frustrating 14-5 run in the last five minutes that towed them to a fourth victory.

“We’re really excited to win. Barako Bull is a very good basketball team.  If you allow them to sneak up on you, you’re just not prepared.  So I was not surprised that they made a run and I’m very pleased that we were able to grind it out a win,” said active team consultant Todd Purves.

Banking on a hot-shooting start, the Beermen led by as many 16 points, 69-53, with seven-and-a-half minutes left in the payoff period on a basket by Marcio Lassiter.

San Miguel, though, couldn’t find that push to pull away in the third with Dollard consistently willing Barako Bull within single digits.

Dollard then caught fire completely early the payoff period, scoring 10 points — including off deep and off-balanced triples — in a 13-3 run that gave Barako Bull the lead, 87-84, with 8:48 on the clock.

Both teams traded leads in the ensuing plays, before the Beermen ultimately took over on a triple by Marcio Lassiter with 4:53 to play, followed by baskets from June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos and import Kevin Jones.

“Good thing we dominated the boards and shared the ball well. That was our game plan. We expected their import to score a lot,” said head coach Biboy Ravanes.

Jones, a replacement import for Josh Boone, finished with 28 points including three triples along with 18 boards that gave the Beermen a 54-36 lead on that department. He also added five dimes.

Lassiter added 19 points on a scorching 5-of-9 three-point shooting while Santos and Fajardo combined for 31 points and plucked 11 boards apiece.

The victory game San Miguel a 4-1 record good for second place behind Talk N’ Text, while it pushed Barako Bull further into trouble to 1-4, which is just slightly ahead of winless GlobalPort.

It was the second 40+ point night for the prolific Dollard, who also had 15 rebounds, but Barako Bull is still in danger of early elimination this conference with only five games left.

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