Alex Cabagnot and the San Miguel Beermen averted a massive meltdown and held off the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters, 100-88, to take Game One of their 2019 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal series Saturday night at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“Our quarterfinal series against TNT really helped us tonight,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria, recalling their highly-physical, best-of-three showdown with TNT KaTropa that went to the limit just three nights ago.
“The players never backed down.”
Alex Cabagnot paced the defending five-time all-Filipino champs with 26 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Chris Ross and Marcio Lassiter had 14 markers apiece; both also shot an identical 50-percent clip from the field.
Christian Standhardinger chimed in 12 points and 16 rebounds in the win.
The Beermen actually started the match slow and saw themselves trailing by six at the end of the first quarter. They then woke up in the next frame and made a 22-4 run en route to a 43-31 lead with 2:52 on the clock.
San Miguel had the driver’s seat after that. They even led by as many as 24, 73-49, with 5:37 to go in the third chapter.
But semis first-timers Phoenix gave the Beermen a major scare come the final canto. Alex Mallari’s off-the-glass shot at the end of a fastbreak brought the Fuel Masters within striking distance, 82-89, with 4:55 remaining in the game.
Unfortunately for them, Arwind Santos knocked a triple of his own to stretch SMB’s lead back to double-digits, 92-82, with 4:27 left. Missed freebies of Calvin Abueva 23 seconds later compounded their woes.
Phoenix still had a glimmer of hope when Fajardo got booted out with 3:49 to go, for a loose ball foul on Kramer; the Fuel Master split his foul shots to make it a single-digit gap again. But Lassiter scored on the other end to stretch their lead to 11.
Abueva had the chance to trim the deficit once more, but he missed both of his freebies – he went just 1-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final frame. That allowed Lassiter and Cabagnot to apply the finishing touches to the win.
Matthew Wright led the Fuel Masters with 22 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Abueva produced 18 points on 6-of-22 shooting from the field along with a game-high 21 rebounds and five assists with a steal.
Mallari and RJ Jazul had 11 markers apiece in the loss.
Austria has never lost a best-of-seven series with the Beermen when winning Game One; four of the previous six series wins needed no more than five games to finish.
Game Two will be on Monday, April 15, at SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
San Miguel 100 – Cabagnot 26, Ross 14, Lassiter 14, Standhardinger 12, Santos 9, Fajardo 9, Tubid 6, Romeo 5, Pessumal 5, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Nabong 0.
Phoenix 88 – Wright 22, Abueva 18, Jazul 11, Mallari 11, Perkins 6, Revilla 7, Chua 5, Marcelo 4, Intal 3, Kramer 1, Mendoza 0, Dennison 0.
Quarterscores: 21-27, 49-39, 81-59, 100-88.
