San Miguel Beermen fired on all cylinders to earn a wire-to-wire victory over TNT Katropa, 111-98, and gain a 1-0 series lead in their 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Semifinals series Wednesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“Masaya ako dito first win namin, dahil alam natin na very important yung first win dito sa series, in any series,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria.
Five Beermen ran the show in the one-sided affair. Marcio Lassiter was the high-point man with 22 markers on 8-of-13 shooting highlighted by four treys and had eight rebounds. June Mar Fajardo backed him up with 21 points and eight boards.
Alex Cabagnot poured in 20 markers by going 7-of-15 from the floor. Arwind Santos and Gabby Espinas added 15 and 13, respectively. Chris Ross, despite making just two points, made his presence felt with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I want to commend the players, especially ang mga starters namin, and not only the starters but the off-the-bench because they’re playing like an orchestra. Alam na alam na nila ang gagawin ng bawat isa, at kanya-kanyang roles sila,” the three-time champion coach added.
The Beermen waxed hot on offense right from the get go, wrapping up the game’s first 12 minutes with a commanding 32-16 lead with Lassiter anchoring the team’s attack. From there, the Katropa never had the chance to taste any lead.
TNT, however, still managed to fight back come the game’s final chapter. The Katropa wiped out a wide 15-point, 89-74 deficit early in the frame down to just seven, 95-88, in the 6:08 mark after a 10-2 scoring run led by Kelly Williams.
TNT tried to trim the gap further, but their shots could not hit its’ target. SMB then gunned to a 13-5 spree highlighted by and-one plays from Fajardo and baskets from Cabagnot to re-establish a 15-point lead, 108-93, with 1:45 to go, enough to keep the opposition at bay.
But despite the win that gave them the leverage in the best-of-seven series, Austria warned that it will still be a long way to go, iterating that it is just the first game.
“Maraming butas na meron kami and maswerte lang kami at hindi pa nakikita nila. So we have to adjust. This is the first game, so pwede ulit kaming mag-adjust. Kung maga-adjust sila, maga-adjust kami. We have to be ready,” Austria added.
Williams and Jayson Castro paced TNT in the loss. Castro led all scorers with 27 markers by shooting 11-of-17 to go along with eight assists, while Williams supplied 24. Mo Tautuaa and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser chipped in 11 and 10 markers.
SMB shot an excellent 41-of-73 from the floor for a 56 percent clip, with most of those shots coming from the 24 assists they had. However, they barely won the battle on the boards, 44-42, and had more turnovers, 20-13.
TNT barely converted more points from turnovers of SMB, 17-16, but made more points off second chances, 10-7, and fastbreaks, 8-4. Their bench also had a notable outing tonight, outscoring SMB’s reserves 67-29.
Game 2 of the Beermen-Katropa series will be on Friday, February 10, 7:00 PM at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Scores:
SMB (111) – Lassiter 22, Fajardo 21, Cabagnot 20, Santos 15, Espinas 13, Garcia 9, Tubid 6, Ross 5, McCarthy 0, Agovida 0, Y. De Ocampo 0.
TNT (98) – Castro 27, Williams 24, Tautuaa 11, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, R. De Ocampo 7, Fonacier 7, Pogoy 6, Reyes 4, Seigle 2, Rosario 0, Carey 0, Golla 0, Sumalinog 0, Rosales 0.
Quarterscores: 32-16, 56-46, 83-73, 111-98.
