With the dreadful start to the season looming, the San Miguel Beermen responded with a dominant third quarter in defeating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to barge into the win column, 104-91 at the Mall of Asia Arena, Tuesday night.
A chippy start to the match was seen as in the first minute, Marcio Lassiter was called for an early flagrant foul as he shoved Jericho Cruz in the first minutes. This opening assessment dictated the physical-themed game played all throughout the match. Despite which, SMB cruised to an early 12-7 lead with Junemar Fajardo and Alex Cabanot rattling in jumpers. ROS struggled with turnovers that was capitalized by San Miguel as they ended the first 12 minutes on a sizzling 13-4 run and establish a double-digit edge.
Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood each drained a triple in the hot start offensively to the second quarter by Rain or Shine to tie the game at 27. The rallied continued as ROS took the lead anew with SMB struggling to get their inside game going. Points came hard for San Miguel while McKines and the rest of his crew outscored SMB 16-5 late in the period. Alex Cabagnot scored a triple to extinguish the scoring drought from top of the key to help his team enter the half up by a solitary point.
Paul Lee knocked down a triple to slice the lead down to one in the opening minutes of the second half. However, Rain or Shine entered the penalty situation with seven minutes to go in the third that went in favor of the Beermen. The extracurriculars continued with JR Quiñahan called for a flagrant foul against Fajardo, who drained three straight free throws on that possession to give them a 53-48 lead. The slow tempo of the quarter due to fouls did not favor the Elasto Painters, who struggled t0 find flow in their offense. A quick out of bounds play by the Beermen found an open Marcio Lassiter to increase their gap at 62-50.
Less than four minutes to go in the third, and some sorry misses for Rain or Shine including free throws and a dunk by McKines haunted their chances to slice the Beermen lead. SMB outscored ROS, 16-9 during the stretch and head into the fourth quarter up by 16.
JR Quiñahan was responsible for the first five points by the Painters in the last period that showed good signs for a possible comeback. However, free throw misses haunted the last conference bridesmaid finishers while AZ Reid continued to accumulate points on the other end. The former Rain or Shine reinforcement was located by his teammates and reinstall a baker’s dozen lead, 81-68. Good ball movement was helpful for San Miguel, in order to maintain the double-digit advantage in majority of the final period.
Paul Lee knocked down a triple and McKines showcased an impressive one-handed follow up jam to cut the lead to 89-82 quickly. The run was silenced was a four-point play by Ronald Tubid, who knocked down two treys in the quarter. In the game’s last three minutes, the exchange of baskets went in favor of San Miguel while an Arizona Reid fade away jumper and a Fajardo jam served as the icing in the cake for the Beermen’s first win.
Reid was stellar against his former squad as he ended up with 36 points, including six treys, 11 rebounds and dishing out six dimes. Fajardo added a monstrous 22 point, 18 rebound statline together with three blocks. Five Elasto Painters ended up scoring in double figures with McKines’ 19 pacing them.
SMB shot 44% from the field compared to the Painters’ 38%. They also shot six more free throws and committed less turnovers, 10-14.
The scores:
San Miguel Beer(104) – Reid 36, Fajardo 22, Lassiter 9, Cabagnot 9, Tubid 8, Santos 6, Lutz 4, Espinas 4, Ross 4, Reyes 2, Reyes 2, Omolon 0
Rain or Shine(91) – McKines 19, Lee 17, Norwood 12, Quiñahan 12, Cruz 11, Almazan 8, Uyloan 7, Ibañes 3, Araña 0, Cruz 0
Quarter scores: 25-20, 43-42, 75-59, 104-91
