Wilkerson powers undermanned Beermen past Hotshots

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Tyler Wilkerson led the way for a shorthanded San Miguel Beer side as the Beermen clobbered the Star Hotshots, 117-98, Sunday in the 2016 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen played sans June Mar Fajardo, Arwind Santos and Ronald Tubid but still had Wilkerson as he lit up the scoreboards with 44 points on an 8-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc, to go with 17 rebounds to snap the Hotshots’ three-game winning run.

“This game was dedicated to Arwind (Santos),” said coach Leo Austria, as the reed thin forward is still grieving the death of his mother Araceli last week.

Marcio Lassiter also went berserk with a 6-of-12 shooting from threes to finish with 25 markers and three assists, while Chris Ross just missed out on a triple-double with 11 points, 10 dimes, and eight boards. Alex Cabagnot came off the bench and provided 13 points.

“The players were challenged because of the absence of June Mar (Fajardo), (Ronald) Tubid), and Arwind, and I’m happy to see na nagtulungan sila to show that we can win without them,” said Austria. “We want to support Arwind sa kung ano mang nararamdanan nya ngayon.”

Fajardo and Tubid are still nursing knee injuries but sat with their teammates at the sidelines.

The win kept San Miguel firmly at second place with a 5-2 record, while dropping Star down to ninth at 4-5.

“They know the importance of this game. We don’t want complications sa gitna ng standings because we have a chance to get on top because we beat Alaska and Meralco. I hope pagbalik ng tatlo, hindi sila maka-disrupt,” said Austria.

Star battled back from 22-points down in the third quarter and was able to trim the lead to just 11, 92-81, before Wilkerson wreaked havoc anew and brought the lead back to 22, 107-85 late in the game.

Ricardo Ratliffe paced the Hotshots with 33 points and 21 rebounds, while James Yap had 17 markers before leaving the game with a right calf injury in the third quarter.

Allein Maliksi got 15 points, while Peter June Simon finished the game with 14.

The scores:

SAN MIGUEL 117 – Wilkerson 44, Lassiter 25, Cabagnot 13, Ross 11, Arana 8, Semerad 6, Reyes 4, De Ocampo 2, Heruela 2, Mabulac 2, Espinas 0, Lutz 0.
STAR 98 – Ratliffe 33, Yap 17, Maliksi 15, Simon 14, Barroca 8, Reavis 6, Pingris 3, Melton 2, Mallari 0, J. Pascual 0, Sangalang 0.

Quarters: 32-30, 54-45, 85-71, 117-98.