SMB still unscathed; Talk ‘N Text prevails

SAN MIGUEL’S Sol Mercado forces a shot off Barako Bull’s Mick Pennisi and Jeric Fortuna in yesterday’s game at the Big Dome. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines — Arwind Santos was near perfect with a 9-for-10 performance from the field and San Miguel Beer stayed perfect with a 103-89 victory over Barako Bull Sunday night in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Santos capped off a superlative 27-point offensive night with a triple that beat the clock with 65 seconds left for 94-87 as the Beermen survived a scare from the lowly Energy and rose to 3-0, catching idle Alaska on top.

The Beermen and the Aces dispute the solo lead on Wednesday and San Miguel coach Leo Austria said his team’s anticipation of that match threw off his wards’ concentration against the Energy.

Before slipping to 0-3 like expansion squad Blackwater, the Energy seemed to have a chance of pulling off an upset, leading several times early in the fourth before the Beermen finished them off.

“I’m surprised that our energy level was too low,” Austria said. “Maybe they (his players) were thinking of our next game (versus Alaska on Wednesday).”

Marcio Lassiter hit 10 of his 20 points in the fourth for the Beermen, who also got 18 points and 11 rebounds from reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo and 12 points from Sol Mercado coming off the bench.

Denok Miranda, San Miguel’s former starting point guard, tossed in 17 to lead the Energy, who were down by just one, 82-83, after the first six minutes of the fourth but scored only seven points the rest of the way.

Nelbert Omolon, the veteran who was picked up from the free-agent market and once scored 40 points with disbanded Sta. Lucia, fired all eight of his points in the second half and helped the Beermen finish strong.

Talk ‘N Text later got back on track in a big way by tearing Rain or Shine apart, 99-76.

The Tropang Texters broke away in the second quarter and held on with a lot of character this time as they somehow erased memories of a huge foldup against Alaska last week where they blew an 18-point lead to lose by two.

Talk ‘N Text rose to a level 2-2 slate like the Elasto Painters, who, after a 29-point shellacking of KIA Motors the other day, slipped to poor form and were out of it as early as the third period.

Ranidel de Ocampo fired 20 points and rookie Kevin Alaska had his breakout game with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists, tossing in nine of his total in the third when the Texters totally broke Rain or Shine’s back.

Jeff Chan paced the Painters with 16 points.

Paul Lee limped off the floor for the second time this conference after an accidental collision with Ryan Reyes.
He finished with just eight points in just 13 minutes of action.

The scores:

First Game

SAN MIGUEL 103—Santos 27, Lassiter 20, Fajardo 18, Mercado 12, Lutz 8, Omolon 8, Tubid 3, Semerad 2, Ross 2, Hubalde 2, Chua 1, Pascual 0.

BARAKO 89—Miranda 17, Lastimosa 12, Intal 12, Fortuna 11, Lanete 10, Garcia 8, Pennisi 6, Paredes 4, Wilson 4, Salvador 2, Marcelo 2, Pascual 1, Salva 0.

Quarters: 26-24, 43-45, 70-68, 103-89

Second Game

TALK ‘N TEXT 99—De Ocampo 20, Washington 18, Alas 18, Ganuelas-Rosser 11, Carey 10, Castro 9, Fonacier 5, Espiritu 3, Aban 3, Wiliams 2, Labagala 0, Reyes Ryan 0, Reyes Rob 0, Seigle 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 76—Chan 16, Uyloan 10, Norwood 10, Lee 8, Almazan 8, Quinahan 7, Teng 5, Cruz Jericho 5, Ibanes 2, Cruz Jervy 2, Belga 2, Tang 1, Arana 0.

Quarters: 29-21, 56-45, 83-60, 99-76