The San Miguel Beermen displayed poise in the final period to edge out rivals Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 72-70, in a low-scoring affair in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
The victory stretched San Miguel’s consecutive wins to three and cemented their place atop the standings with a 7-1 record. Ginebra, meanwhile, dropped to 3-4 and to the ninth place.
Three Beermen scored in double figures in tonight’s victory. Alex Cabagnot made 16 points on 6 of 16 shooting. Ronald Tubid scored 12, while Arwind Santos supplied 10 markers and 12 rebounds.
June Mar Fajardo scored only nine, but his presence in the paint was felt as he grabbed 11 boards. Marcio Lassiter also made up for a low output of seven markers with 13 rebounds.
“I [knew] from the start na this will be a tight game for us dahil I think our energy has gone down since our last game against Blackwater,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria post-game.
“Mabuti na lang may kaunti pang Petron na laman ang gas tank mga players,” added Austria.
The Beermen turned a 58-all deadlock strongly in their favor, unleashing a fiery 14-4 run capped by a Santos lay-up to post the game’s first double-digit lead at ten, 72-62, with 2:26 to go in the final chapter.
The Gin Kings still fought back gallantly, erasing the huge deficit by making eight straight points highlighted, by back-to-back three-pointers from Joe DeVance and LA Tenorio, to close within a field goal, 72-70, with 51.9 seconds left.
San Miguel tried their best to widen their narrow lead, but two straight attempts by Cabagnot clanged off the rim. Luckily for them, Santos grabbed all of Cabagnot’s misses to bar Ginebra from securing the ball and tying the match.
The Barangay aimed to send the match to a 72-all deadlock, but a one-hander by Tenorio over Santos in the closing seconds missed its target. The Beermen then grabbed the miss and milked the clock to secure the victory.
“Unfortunately yung last three possessions, we’re leading by eight, then naging two points. Buti na lang ‘di pumasok yung tira,” said Austria regarding the near-meltdown they had.
Only two players scored above ten in tonight’s loss. Japeth Aguilar led Ginebra and all scorers with 17 points by shooting 8 of 19 from the floor, along with 11 rebounds. Sol Mercado had 11 and 6.
Both squads shot almost similarly in the tightly-contested battle. Ginebra shot 28 of 78 tries for a 36% clip, while San Miguel hit 25 of 78. Both teams also had 16 assists each. However, there was a huge disparity in the rebounding battle as SMB won, 59-50.
San Miguel look to win their eighth straight match as they will face Rain or Shine on Friday, January 13, 7:00 PM at the Mall of Asia Arena. On the other hand, Ginebra will try to bounce back against Meralco on Saturday, January 14, 5:00 PM in Iloilo City.
The scores:
San Miguel (72)– Cabagnot 16, Tubid 12, Santos 10, Fajardo 9, Lassiter 7, Espinas 7, De Ocampo 5, Ross 4, Garcia 2, Heruela 0.
Ginebra (70) – Aguilar 17, Mercado 11, Tenorio 8, Devance 7, Ferrer 7, Thompson 6, Cruz 6, Ellis 2, Mariano 2, Marcelo 2, Caguioa 2.
Quarter scores: 17-15, 32-31, 53-49, 72-70
