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San Miguel Beer fended off Meralco, 110-106, to assure itself a quarterfinals spot in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Mike Singletary, who is serving as a temporary replacement for injured Arizona Reid, gave the Beermen a shot in the arm with 21 points and 20 rebounds.
“I’m really expecting this kind of game because both teams want to get into the top four,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria.
“I give credit to all the players because they were able to carry over our momentum from our win over Alaska when we didn’t have an import,” added Austria.
The Beermen upped their mark to 6-2, joining the Barangay Ginebra Kings and Mahindra Enforcer in second place.
Veteran forward Arwind Santos also came up big, unloading nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, including four free throws in the final 20.8 seconds that kept Meralco at bay.
The Bolts (5-4) had their two-game winning run halted despite getting a game-high 34 points from import Allen Durham and a vintage performance from Jimmy Alapag, who had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
Alapag, who went 4-of-8 from three, was instrumental in bringing Meralco back from 13 points down in the third quarter.
Reigning back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo led the Beermen in scoring with 24 points while also grabbing 10 rebounds.