Cameron Clark aided San Miguel to a great escape of Ginebra, 102-99, for win no. 7 in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The 31-year-old gave the Beermen the needed separation by converting Simon Enciso’s dime with 8.8 ticks left, and the team turned to its defense in preventing Nards Pinto from making the potential game-tying trey to preserve the win.
Clark led the way with 35 points and 10 rebounds as SMB survived a major scare after seeing the reigning champions come just within one, 100-99, behind Scottie Thompson’s bucket off a steal with 26.7 seconds remaining.
“Feels good. I feel like we’re just playing hard. We knew it was going to be a hard game, they have a lot of great players. They have good chemistry and this was a big test for us to win,” said Clark, who also had two assists and a block.
CJ Perez had 20 points and seven rebounds in the victory that helped San Miguel join TNT on top of the team standings as both tote 7-1 records.
The Tropang Giga, coincidentally, will be their next foes on Sunday, 6:45 p.m. at the Philsports Arena in a clash of squads already qualified for the quarterfinals.
Six-time June Mar Fajardo made 12 points and 18 rebounds as he became just the sixth player to collect at least 2,000 offensive boards after legends Ramon Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Jerry Codiñera. Asi Taulava, and Ali Peek.
“Nung last game mababa lang ‘yung rebounds ko, china-challenge niya ‘ko, ‘O may utang ka sa akin na rebounds a.’ ‘Sige, Coach.’ So, ayun, ine-encourage ako nina Coach,” said the soft-spoken Cebuano star.
With the win, San Miguel has now beaten both of its SMC sister teams. It defeated Magnolia through a 100-98 decision last February 5.
Christian Standhardinger, meanwhile, had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists to lead the Barangay, who absorbed its second loss in a row after starting the season-ending conference with three straight wins.
Justin Brownlee made 21 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists in the defeat that spoiled his milestone achievement, where he surpassed the late Lew Massey at no. 4 in the PBA’s all-time scoring list among imports.
Jeremiah Gray had 14 points, while Thompson added 13 points and 11 boards as he led the fightback from as much as 13 down that fell short.
Ginebra will look to end its struggles against the 1-6 Blackwater, who’s in the midst of a five-game slide, also on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
The Scores:
San Miguel 102 – Clark 35, Perez 20, Fajardo 12, Manuel 10, Lassiter 8, Enciso 6, Cruz 5, Brondial 4, Ross 2, Tautuaa 0.
Ginebra 99 – Standhardinger 29, Brownlee 21, Gray 14, Thompson 13, Malonzo 9, Pringle 6, Pinto 6, Mariano 1, Tenorio 0.
Quarterscores: 24-21, 50-47, 82-72, 102-99
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
