Kia beats depleted San Miguel Beer in preseason

Pre-season game between San Miguel Beermen vs Kia Picanto. Photo from PBA.ph

Embattled Kia stunned San Miguel Beer, 78-75, in a preseason game Tuesday at Claret Gym in Quezon City.

The Picanto, who took flak after trading the rights to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 PBA Draft to the Beermen, drew significant contributions from several players led by D-League call-up Jackson Corpuz.

Corpuz nearly tallied a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds that went with four steals and two blocks.

Philip Paniamogan added 11 points, five rebounds and five assists while Rashawn McCarthy, who was part of the controversial deal that allowed San Miguel to select highly-touted Fil-German Christian Standhardinger as the top selection, had an all-around effort of eight points, six rebounds and eight assists.

The Beermen played without reigning four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo and Standhardinger, who is still with Hong Kong in the Asean Basketball League.

The Picanto took a 57-42 lead after a Reden Celda 3-pointer at the 5:19 mark of the third quarter before the Beermen rallied and even had a pair of chances to force overtime.

But Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos missed a couple of triples inside the last 10 seconds as Kia escaped.

Marcio Lassiter scored a game-high 16 points built on four 3-pointers while Cabagnot had 15 and Santos collected eight points and 12 rebounds.