SAN Miguel import Tyler Wilkerson nearly loses possession under pressure from Sean Anthony and Asi Taulava of NLEX in last night’s Big Dome thriller. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
SAN MIGUEL Beer won out in the best game played in the Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup thus far, nipping NLEX, 131-127, in triple overtime at Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night to stay on course to seizing top ranking in the playoffs.
Tyler Wilkerson and June Mar Fajardo took turns drilling the shots that finally put the Road Warriors away in the third extension, shooting all but two of the Beermen’s 13 points as San Miguel rebounded mightily from a 26-point loss to Barangay Ginebra on Sunday.
The win was the sixth in nine games for the Beermen, who would still need to win their last two games to seal a twice-to-beat privilege, if not the No. 1 seeding.
In the nightcap, Rain or Shine peeled away from GlobalPort late in the third quarter and cruised to a 116-94 win that gave the Elasto Painters a tie for fourth spot with idle Barangay Ginebra at 6-4.
Jeff Chan played big for the second straight game, scoring 18 points built around four conversions from trifectaville, boosting Rain or Shine’s chances of advancing to the quarterfinals.
The also-ran Batang Pier dropped to 2-8.
Al Thornton fought as hard as he could to salvage the game for NLEX, firing 69 points—the most by any man since Jay Edwards of defunct Swift in the 1994 Governors’ Cup—in just the 11th triple overtime game in league history.
The Road Warriors dropped to a level 5-5 card and are in shaky ground as they still could go down as low as No. 7 and 8.
The scores:
First Game
SAN MIGUEL 131—Wilkerson 58, Cabagnot 20, Fajardo 18, Santos 15, Lassiter 11, Ross 7, Semerad 2, De Ocampo 0, Espinas 0, Arana .
NLEX 127—Thornton 69, Anthony 24, Taulava 13, Villanueva E. 6, Villanueva J. 6, Alas 3, Borboran 3, Cardona 3, Apinan 0, Enciso 0, Lanete 0, Reyes R. 0.
Quarters: 30-16, 52-45, 80-73, 99-99 (reg.), 108-108 (OT), 118-118 (2OT), 131-127 (3OT)
Second Game
RAIN OR SHINE 116—Chan 18, Charlo 18, Lee 12, Cruz 11, Tiu 10, Almazan 9, Quinahan 9, Ahanmisi 8, Belga 7, Norwood 4, Nimes 3, Trollano 3, Ibanes 2, Ponferada 2.
GLOBALPORT 94—Taggart 32, Romeo 19, Uyloan 12, Jensen 7, Fortuna 5, Washington 5, Mamaril 4, Yeo 4, Isip 2, Kramer 2, Taha 2.
Quarters: 21-22, 44-49, 79-70, 116-94