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MANILA, Philippines — Defending champion San Miguel Beer was the steadier team late, edging Alaska, 92-88, in the PBA Philippine Cup Saturday night at AUF Sports Arena & Cultural Center in Angeles, Pampanga.
The Beermen drew timely points from Marcio Lassiter and Mo Tautuaa inside the final five minutes and made necessary stops on the other end of the floor to keep the Aces at bay.
Five straight free throws from Lassiter gave San Miguel an 88-82 cushion with 3:52 left. Tautuaa stretched the lead back to six, 90-84, at the two-minute mark before two more freebies by Lassiter with 8.2 ticks to go iced the game.
San Miguel, which is playing minus its injured stars in June Mar Fajardo and Terrence Romeo, got another double-double from Arwind Santos and a game-high 19 points from Alex Cabagnot.
Santos posted 17 points and 10 rebounds with two blocks to boot while Tautuaa and Lassiter finished with 16 and 13, points respectively as the Beermen upped their mark to 3-2.
Rookie Barkley Eboña and veteran big man Vic Manuel had 18 points apiece for the Aces, who slid to 3-3.