Fuel Masters try, fail to outrun Beermen

Phoenix head coach Ariel Vanguardia. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Phoenix head coach Ariel Vanguardia pointed to his team’s poor transition offense as the culprint in their huge 110-88 loss to San Miguel in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Friday.

Vanguardia added the Fuel Masters tried to match the Beermen’s speed but he soon realized the San Miguel trio of Alex Cabagnot, Chris Ross, and Marcio Lassiter was too much for Phoenix.

“I tried to outrun San Miguel but I figured out that I cannot outrun their three smalls,” said Vanguardia whose team slipped to 2-3. “They killed us in transition, that was the biggest thing today.”

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“We had opportunities to run but we missed a lot of 3-on-2, 2-on-1. We had a lot of fastbreak opportunities but we couldn’t convert.”

San Miguel outscored Phoenix 22-17 in transition points but the Fuel Masters’ overall 37 percent shooting clip just couldn’t push them to a win.

Vanguardia said Fuel Masters clamped up once San Miguel established the lead in the second quarter.

San Miguel went on a 15-0 run to put up a 39-25 buffer.

“We were tight when San Miguel had the lead, we tried to get it back in one shot but the combination of my mistake of trying to outrun the Beermen instead of playing possession by possession contributed to the loss,” said Vanguardia.