SAN Miguel Beer shut out Rain or Shine in the final 4:40 last night to pull off a 101-95 victory and lead their best-of-five semifinal series, 1-0, in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Arizona Reid, the former Rain or Shine import, scored four of the Beermen’s closing 6-0 spurt as San Miguel completed a comeback from 24 points down in the first half and seized the momentum going into tomorrow’s Game 2.
Reid and the rest of the San Miguel starters finished in twin digits with the former Best Import winner winding up with 22 points on top of 13 rebounds. He missed a triple double by just two assists.
Rain or Shine tied the game for the last time at 95 after a Wendell McKines basket, time down to 4:40, but failed to buy another bucket after that after taking control for almost three-fourths of the way.
Alex Cabagnot fired 15 points and had eight assists, while June Mar Fajardo, the leading MVP and Best Player of the Conference candidate, hit 20 and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Marcio Lassiter also had 22, including the go-ahead layup with 3:29 left for 97-95, while Arwind Santos tossed in 13 and was the third San Miguel player with a double-double with 12 boards.
GABE Norwood (left) and Wendell McGines typify the intensity of Rain or Shine’s defense in last night’s still-unfinished game as they gang up on San Miguel Beer’s Arizona Reid at Smart Araneta Coliseum. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
McKines paced the Elasto Painters with 33 points and 16 rebounds. Paul Lee came off the bench to shoot 19.
“This is unbelievable for us,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria. “We were down big but we rallied and won. It’s a team effort and Alex made some big plays.”
Meanwhile, Alaska shoots for a commanding 2-0 lead against Star today in their separate best-of-five semifinal series, also at the Big Dome in Cubao.
Coming off a 97-91 win where they roared back from 18 points down in the first half, the Aces are tipped to make it two straight over their former coach, Tim Cone, and the defending champion Hotshots in the 7 p.m. game.
Coach Alex Compton said they started slow in Game 1—the Aces came into the halftime break staring at a 51-36 deficit—because of the “fear of their kuya (big brother).”
“I thought we showed them too much respect,” said Compton, referring to the Hotshots, who have beaten them all three times in recent series. “Don’t get me wrong, our first building block is our honor—honoring our teammates, referees, the fans, the opponents.”
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 101—Lassiter 22, Reid 22, Fajardo 20, Cabagnot 15, Santos 13, Tubid 5, Lutz 2, Espinas 2, Ross 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 95—McKines 33, Lee 19, Belga 12, Almazan 10, Ibanes 7, Chan 7, Uyloan 5, Tiu 2, Norwood 0, Cruz Jericho 0, Arana 0, Quinahan 0.
Quarters: 19-34, 46-60, 80-79, 101-95