Streaking San Miguel Beer rolled to its seventh win a row after beating Talk ‘N Text, 101-96, in the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup Tuesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Arizona Reid scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Beermen, who climbed to 7-2 and assured themselves of a spot in the playoffs. The former two-time Best Import also dished out five assists.
“This game is really important for us to avoid any complication to get into the top four and I think with this win, we are already in the top four,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria. “I think we were able to anticipate what they planned to do against us.”
Not quite. San Miguel still needs one more win to guarantee itself a seat in the top four and a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
The Beermen also looked unsure of the Tropang Texters’ game plan at least in the early part of the game where they fell behind by as much as 17 points in the second quarter.
Austria, though, was spot on about his players’ resiliency having to erase that big of a lead in just a short time. By halftime, the game was already tied at 45 and in the second half, it was San Miguel in control with Reid leading the way.
“I’m happy to see my players not giving up. Especially AZ he was able to lead the team. He raised his voice to motivate the team and they responded.”
Four other Beermen scored in double figures. Marcio Lassiter had 15 points, Arwind Santos added 14 points and eight rebounds while Alex Cabagnot and Ronald Tubid tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo didn’t end up with his usual output with nine points and eight rebounds, needing to sit majority of the game due to foul trouble.
AZ Reid rolls to the hoop. PBA IMAGES
Jayson Castro had 25 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Texters, who continued their fall down the standings. Talk ‘N Text is now 3-5 and far from the team which started the conference at 3-1. CFC