Arizona Reid. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Miguel Beer pulled the plug on Meralco’s season with a 102-86 win for the last semifinals berth in the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup Monday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Arizona Reid and June Mar Fajardo each posted a double-double while Marcio Lassiter provided the scoring punch from the outside for the Beermen, who will face the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in a best-of-five semifinals duel starting on Thursday night.
Reid had 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Fajardo recorded 22 points and 16 rebounds while Lassiter made it hard for the Bolts to focus their defense on the paint by churning out 17 points built on three triples.
“I think playing another game in the quarterfinals put a scare in us,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria. “I’m happy to see that the players responded with what the fans are expecting from them.”
With their season on the line, the Bolts fought as hard as they could. Meralco was still in it early in the fourth quarter before back-to-back 3-pointers by Lassiter stretched San Miguel Beer’s lead back to 10, 79-69, with 9:16 left.
“They keyed our breakway,” said Austria.
Gary David brought down the Beermen’s lead to single digits before Ronald Tubid nailed a triple and Lassiter delivered the dagger for a 97-81 lead with 1:29 remaining.
Andre Emmet led Meralco, which forced a do-or-die on Saturday with a 106-99 win, with 28 points and 12 rebounds while Reynel Hugnatan chipped in 17 points and six rebounds.
The Beermen beat the Painters, 104-91, in their only meeting in the elimination round last May.
“It’s going to be a very tough game especially with our game on Thursday and we won’t have anytime to prepare,” Austria said on his team’s matchup against Rain or Shine. CFC