SMB gets groove back

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

San Miguel Beer launched a two-pronged attack to tame undermanned Blackwater and snare a breakthrough 127-106 victory in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Beermen, who suffered back-to-back blowout losses to start the conference, dealt damage from inside and out, cashing in on the imposing presence of import Charles Rhodes and June Mar Fajardo, and the marksmanship of Marcio Lassiter.

“A lot of people thought this was going to be an easy game for us because they were not going to field an import. But whatever. Import or none, we’ll take it because we’re struggling. At 0-3, it’s going to be hard to rise up,” said coach Leo Austria, whose squad improved to 1-2.

Magnolia also notched its first win, responding to coach Chito Victolero’s plea to log a 98-88 victory over NLEX in the nightcap.

Victolero told his wards that the team “need[ed] to have that sense of urgency to bring back the old Magnolia style of playing defense.”

“We limited them to a hundred points and that was the primary goal going into the game,” Victolero added.

Import James Farr had 24 points while Ian Sangalang 21 off the bench to help Magnolia notch is first victory in three outings.

Rhodes and Fajardo capitalized on the absence of Alex Stepheson with the comebacking import finishing with 32 points and 19 rebounds and the five-time Most Valuable Player adding 12 and 11.

Lassiter, who seems to have picked up inspiration from teammate Von Pessumal’s hot shooting in their last game, shot 9-for-16 from deep and finished with 29 points to lead all locals.

Pessumal, whose streak of consecutive three-pointers made ended at 13, added 12 points.

Blackwater missed the burly Stepheson, who earlier on Friday returned to the United States to have his stomach problems checked by a specialist.

“This should give us momentum going to our next game,” said Austria, whose squad gets into a mammoth clash with defending champion Barangay Ginebra on Sunday.