It wasn’t easy, but the San Miguel Beermen pulled through a tough fight from the Mahindra Floodbusters in a 94-91 win, Sunday evening at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
June Mar Fajardo once again put up MVP-like numbers, finishing with yet another double-double performance, with 28 points on an excellent 12-of-13 shooting from the floor and 15 rebounds.
The Floodbuster jumped on the defending champs early, as they took a hasty 24-11 in the first quarter to establish the game’s biggest deficit. They went on to lead until intermission, but had to endure an 11-2 closeout in the first half by the Beermen capped by two huge triples by Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter.
“Hindi masasabing basta Mahindra na 0-4, panalo na kami. Natambakan nga kami buti na lang nagpick up kami sa second half,” said Fajardo after pointing out how Mahindra plays despite the losing record.
San Miguel had multiple chances to grab the lead in the third quarter, but the pesky Mahindra team went nip-and-tuck during the canto. Fortunately, off-the-bench guard duo of RR Garcia and Ronald Tubid connived to give SMB their first taste of the lead at the 3:19 mark of the third at 62-59.
The dogfight continued until the final stretch of the match, where an aggressive Alex Mallari led the Floodbuster snatch the lead back. With the game tied at 85, rookie Joseph Eriobu knocked down a triple as the shot clock expired to put Mahindra on top.
Fortunately for the Beermen, their dominant frontcourt of June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos proved to be unstoppable once again, with an inside stabs and clutch free throws at the end. On the other hand, Mallari failed to tie things up in regulation with his missed three-point attempt.
Coach Leo Austria admitted after the game that his team were winded from their past games, but vowed to recover from slow starts like this. “This is a good lesson for us. We’re lucky. We cannot afford to have a game like this, maybe because some distraction on our team and lack of rest since I was forced to play them up to 35 minutes(in past games),” he said. “Whether it’s 50 points or one point, tatangapin ko yan [win].”
The Beermen went 21-of-27 from the free throw area, which were 14 more points against Mahindra’s 7-for-12 clip. Mallari topped the Floodbusters in scoring with 21 points on 7-for-19 shooting, while Eriobu followed his double-double performance last outing with a 17-point effort in this loss.
San Miguel( 3-1) now sit at the top of the standings, tied with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, and will next face the NLEX Road Warriors (1-2) on a showdown in Cagayan de Oro City on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mahindra (0-4) will try to get their first win of the season versus the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (1-1) on Friday, also at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
San Miguel (94) – Fajardo 28, Santos 18, Cabagnot 15, Tubid 10, Garcia 9, Lassiter 8, Ross 4, Espinas 2, Agovida 0, Reyes 0, McCarthy 0, De Ocampo 0.
Mahindra (91) – Mallari 21, Eriobu 17, Revilla 15, Escoto 10, Yee 8, Ballesteros 5, Digregorio 3, Guevarra 3, Teng 3, Paniamogan 2, Salva 2, Arana 2, Celda 0, Webb 0.
Quarterscores: 26-15, 47-49, 71-66, 94-91
