Marcio Lassiter pulled San Miguel from the jaws of defeat against Meralco, 95-94, to even the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup Finals, Friday night.
Struggling all game long, the veteran marksman showed nerves of steel time and again, knocking down the go-ahead triple from the corner with 13.2 seconds to go that left the pro-Bolts crowd at the SMART Araneta Coliseum shocked.
CJ Perez, after missing his first free throw, then purposely missed the next with 3.2 ticks left and that paid off as Bong Quinto, who could no longer call for time due to the new rules, got whistled for a travel in an attempt for a Hail Mary.
Shortly after, all of the Beermen heaved a huge sigh of relief following the great escape as they managed to tie the best-of-7 series at one game apiece.
“It was either for Marcio or CJ,” said head coach Jorge Gallent of the last shot of Lassiter, who finished with six points on eight tries from the field. “We’re not hesitant to let them shoot the ball, especially in crunch time.”
Perez top-scored for SMB with a playoff career-high 34 points, including that gutsy trey right in front of Chris Newsome to ccut the gap to 93-92 with exactly 22 seconds left — serving as a prelude to Lassiter’s heroics.
Perez also had four rebounds and five assists, none bigger, of course, than the one that led to Lassiter’s back-breaking trifecta off the fake versus Quinto.
“Sobrang crucial kasi nitong Game Two na ‘to, binigay talaga namin 110 percent namin,” said Perez, who also had five steals. “Hindi siya perfect, pero nakuha namin yung panalo and magkaka-adjust pa kami sa mga mistakes namin.”
June Mar Fajardo had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Don Trollano and Mo Tautua’a had 12 and 10 points, respectively, as they all helped San Miguel overcome a 78-70 deficit with barely a minute into the final period.
That solid display of character and experience enabled the Beermen as well to waste the season-high outing of Cliff Hodge for Meralco.
The seasoned bruiser finished with 25 points and nine rebounds, becoming more active on the offensive end much to his team’s satisfaction.
He and the Bolts were on the way to celebrating such a performance and, more importantly, a 2-0 series advantage when it held a two-possession lead, 93-89, following Chris Banchero’s booming trey with 25.6 seconds on the clock.
But then, Perez happened. It also didn’t help that Banchero only split his foul shots with 20.2 seconds to spare, and then came Lassiter with the huge blow.
Banchero was given a chance for redemption when Meralco went to him for the potential game-winning basket, but his layup off a strong drive to the cup with seven seconds left only kissed the glass and bounced off the rim.
Banchero tallied 16 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Main man Chris Newsome supplied a 14-6-5 stat line in the narrow defeat.
Game 3 is on Sunday at 6:15 p.m. still at the Big Dome, with both squads looking to gain a head start as the series is now reduced to a best-of-5.
The Scores:
San Miguel 95 – Perez 34, Fajardo 17, Trollano 12, Tautuaa 10, Cruz 7, Lassiter 6, Ross 5, Brondial 2, Teng 2, Enciso 0.
Meralco 94 – Hodge 25, Banchero 16, Newsome 14, Quinto 9, Maliksi 8, Rios 6, Bates 6, Torres 5, Caram 3, Pascual 2, Almazan 0, Jose 0.
Quarterscores: 21-22, 49-48, 69-73, 95-94.
