SAN MIGUEL BEER center June Mar Fajardo (right) goes over the back of NLEX’s Sean Anthony for a rebound. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MARCIO Lassiter was having a pretty bad night, until he threw up a triple with seven-tenths of a second remaining to key a 94-93 triumph over NLEX that gave the San Miguel Beermen a piece of the early elimination round lead in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
That triple, which happened because of a breakdown of the Road Warriors defense in the Beermen’s last play with under five seconds left, capped a whirlwind comeback by San Miguel from five points down with a minute left and NLEX having possession.
“Even though he had a bad night, Marcio still had the confidence to take the winning shot,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said after the Beermen rose to 2-0 and joined Meralco and Mahindra at the top.
Blackwater pulled out all the stops in a wild endgame later in the night to eke out a 100-98 upset of Star and rise to 1-1.
Eric Dawson hit the final three points for the Elite, with JP Erram smothering a crucial attempt by Allein Maliksi on the other end as the Hotshots lost to a lightly-regarded foe for the second straight game.
Several men stood out for the Beermen in the second half after import Arizona Reid played with a contusion and had just four points in the final two quarters.
Yancy de Ocampo had two crucial baskets and Gary David chipped in six of his nine points in the fourth.
Alex Cabagnot actually touched off San Miguel’s smoking finish with a triple of his own with 27 seconds left. Henry Walker threw up an airball that could have won it for NLEX before Lassiter buried that dagger trey.
Lassiter finished with just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting from the field. Reid still paced the Beermen with 23, while Cabagnot finished with 19 and reigning two-time MVP June Mar Fajardo 14.
“We were on the verge of a loss,” Austria said in Filipino. “We were lucky.”
The scores:
First Game
SAN MIGUEL BEER 94—Reid 23, Cabagnot 19, Fajardo 14, David 13, Lassiter 8, De Ocampo 0, Arana 4, Ross 3, Reyes 2, Mabulac 0, Semerad 0, Tubid 0, Heruela 0.
NLEX 93—Walker 33, Villanueva 14, Anthony 9, Villanueva E. 8, Akl 7, Khobuntin 6, Taulava 6, Alas 4, Monfort 3, Lanete 3, Baracael 0.
Quarters: 23-22, 51-41, 68-68, 94-93
Second Game
BLACKWATER 100—Erram 16, Canada 14, Dawson 14, Lastimosa 12, Gamalinda 10, Pascual 10, Cortez 9, Sumang 6, Cervantes 5, Melano 4, Dela Cruz 0, Reyes 0, Sena 0, Vosotros 0.
STAR 98—Maliksi 20, Sangalang 18, Blakely 12, Pingris 12, Simon 9, Barroca 8, Yap 8, Mallari 5, Garcia 4, Pascual 2, Brondial 0, Reavis 0.
Quarters: 22-17, 42-42, 75-75, 100-98