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San Miguel Beer leaned on Alex Cabagnot and returning big man Christian Standhardinger’s brilliance to frustrate Alaska, 114-96, in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at Araneta Coliseum.
The reigning conference champions scripted a turnaround behind the steady performances of Cabagnot, who finished the game with 31 points, and Standhardinger, who chimed in 23 more.
“We all know that we’re already in the quarterfinals. But this game is still important for us,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria, whose squad ended the eliminations with a 7-4 card.
“We didn’t want to get to the next round on a losing note. This gives us a lot of confidence moving on,” he added.
Standhardinger, who, according to Austria has yet to fully recover from his knee injury, pumped in 14 of his 23 points in the final frame to help the Beermen pull away by as many as 21 points.
“We planned for (Christian) to only play a few minutes just to break him in. But he had a break out,” Austria said in jest.
San Miguel now finds itself smack in the middle of the Top 8 at No. 5 to be precise, with five of the teams below them still having a few games left to play.
Alaska drew 22 points from skipper Chris Banchero. Carl Bryan Cruz had 13 while Sonny Thoss and Noy Baclao each added 12.
The Aces, though, had no answer for the Beermen, who had four more players tallying 10 points or more.
The Aces dropped to 4-6 and while they’re still technically in playoff contention, their chances of advancing gets bleaker.