San Miguel ends 3-game slump, defeats Phoenix

San Miguel Beer ended its winless start after beating Phoenix, 106-94, in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Renaldo Balkman led the way with 35 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks for the Beermen, who won their first game after dropping their first three.

A 3-pointer by Alex Cabagnot and inside basket by June Mar Fajardo capped 15-0 run by the Beermen, who took a 101-88 lead with 1:01 remaining after trailing by two.

“First of all, we’re so lucky that we’re able to snatch this game. in the first half were really struggling and good thing, after the break we realized that this was a very important game and our players stepped up,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria.

The Beermen erased a 13-point third quarter deficit in a matter of minutes as they entered the Fuel Masters ahead, 72-70. Balkman fired 14 points in the third period alone.

Christian Standhardinger, Arwind Santos and Cabagnot all came off the bench and finished in double-digit scoring.

Standhardinger had 18 points and seven rebounds while Cabagnot and Santos added 13 apiece.

Cabagnot also collected six rebounds and seven assists. His last feed that led to a short jumper by Standhardinger moved him into 10th place in the all-time PBA assists leaders passing Francis Arnaiz.

Eugene Phelps paced Phoenix (3-3) with a near triple-double effort of 33 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists.