Marcio Lassiter wrote history and inspired San Miguel to a flat-out 131-82 domination of Ginebra in their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup rematch for a double celebration at the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night.
The veteran sniper has overtaken the legendary Jimmy Alapag at the top of the league’s all-time three-pointers made list, doing so barely five minutes into the rivalry affair as he wasted no time accomplishing the milestone.
He nailed the record-breaking third trey at the 7:10-mark of the opening frame, a stop-and-pop against Maverick Ahanmisi before blowing a kiss to the heavens as he also gave themselves an 18-5 lead against the crowd darlings.
Lassiter drilled four of the Beermen’s five shots from beyond the arc in that period, which they ended with a commanding 37-13 advantage.
The game would never be in doubt since, as the crew kept its foot on the gas en route to their biggest winning margin in franchise history, according to the quick check made by the league’s chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
Lassiter finished with a 6-of-8 clip from three for 18 points in 24 minutes of action, hiking his career triples to 1,254 — and counting.
“At the start, it was all energy,” said Coach Jorge Gallent. “And as what the players said before he went out, we just wanted to help Marcio get this one off his back. I’m very happy for him. I’m very blessed to be his coach.”
June Mar Fajardo top-scored with 24 points and 17 rebounds for SMB, which notched its fourth win in a row and improved to 6-2. The team not only took the solo lead in Group B but punched a ticket to the quarterfinals as well.
CJ Perez made 22 points, two rebounds, and six assists, including his cross-court pass to Lassiter for his record-tying three at the right corner.
Terrence Romeo supplied 14 points while Don Trollano added an 11-4-4 line as the locals’ effectiveness enabled import Jordan Adams to not exert much effort. He finished with 12 points, alongside 11 rebounds and three assists.
“When Marcio talked to us, he said, ‘Even if I break this, it’s gonna be useless if we lose the game.’ So everybody was really pumped up with his pep talk,” said Gallent. “This guy can be a coach, kasi he’s very [good] with his pep talk.”
The win, which is also the eighth all-time most lopsided game in league history, also served as a sweet payback for San Miguel after dropping a close 108-102 decision to the Kings in their first-round encounter last August 27.
Now, the team will try to further improve its chances of securing the top seed of the group heading into its last two assignments of the preliminaries, first against Rain or Shine on Thursday and then Blackwater on Saturday.
Ginebra, on the other hand, was led by RJ Abarrientos with 19 points in the 49-point rout — their biggest losing margin in franchise history.
Justin Brownlee had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists as he couldn’t replicate his 51-point explosion in their first meeting.
Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson added 15 and 13 markers, respectively, in the loss that dropped the Barangay to no. 3 in the group with a 5-3 record.
Now down to their last two assignments in the pool stage, the Kings will definitely try to sweep both Phoenix (Thursday) and NLEX (Sunday).
The Scores:
San Miguel 131 – Fajardo 24, Perez 22, Lassiter 18, Romeo 14, Adams 12, Trollano 11, Cruz 6, Jimenez 6, Manuel 6, Brondial 4, Ross 3, Rosales 3, Nava 2.
Ginebra 82 – Abarrientos 19, Brownlee 16, J.Aguilar 15, Thompson 13, Garcia 5, Pessumal 4, Mariano 4, Holt 3, R.Aguilar 2, Ahanmisi 1, Pinto 0, Adamos 0, Tenorio 0, Cu 0.
Quarterscores: 37-13, 66-31, 98-58, 131-82.
