Blackwater finally wins, sends San Miguel to stunning 0-3 start

Blackwater’s Marcus Douthit powers his way past Ronald Roberts Jr. PBA Images/Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — Blackwater finally won and it came at the expense of San Miguel, the winningest franchise in the PBA, 80-77, in the 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The win ended the Elite’s 14 game losing skid spanning two conferences after going 0-11 in the Philippine Cup.

“Of course it was a moment that you could really cherish,” said Blackwater head coach Leo Isaac. “It came a bit late because we really wanted to experience this victory earlier in the last conference. Hopefully this win can turn things to the brighter side for Blackwater.”

Naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit had 20 points including a putback off his own miss that gave the Elite a 77-72 lead with 1:28 left. Douthit, who helped Gilas Pilipinas book a trip to the Fiba World Cup last year, also had 11 rebounds and four blocks in his second game for Blackwater.

Clinging on to a 78-77 edge, Gilbert Bulawan followed up a wild shot by Rob Celiz, who had no choice but to put up a tough shot near the right baseline, for a three-point cushion with 10.2 seconds to go.

The Beermen slumped to 0-3 after coming off a championship run in the PH Cup just over two weeks ago. They missed three potential game-tying 3-pointers with Alex Cabagnot missing two and Marcio Lassiter misfiring on the other one as time ran out.

Import Ronald Roberts Jr. posted 18 points and 17 rebounds for San Miguel, which shot 30% from the field after shooting 37% in its first two games.

Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field and only had nine rebounds. Fajardo logged just 18 minutes of action and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

Blackwater went on a 13-0 run in the third quarter and took a 60-52 lead entering the fourth period. San Miguel led, 71-68, on a triple by Chris Lutz with 4:14 remaining but Bambam Gamalinda hit a contested trey over him that put the Elite ahead, 75-72, with 2:43 left.

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