ANTIPOLO - San Miguel Beer reasserted its mastery over last season's runner-up Magnolia, 85-78, to stay in the Top 8 in the race for the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup playoffs Sunday at the Ynares Center.
Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez took turns knocking down a pair of booming triples while Jericho Cruz made a crucial steal in the stretch as SMB unleashed a 16-4 closing barrage to prevail in this heavyweight rematch of the Season 48 finalists that became more of a battle for survival between struggling squads.
The Beermen snapped a two-game slide and improved its record to 4-4 ahead of NLEX (3-5) and Phoenix (3-5) while sending Hotshots (3-6) down to 11th.
"We considered this game as most crucial for us as Magnolia is one our rivals for the Top 8. A loss will slide us to the Bottom 5 but a win will get us to the Top 8," said a relieved SMB coach Leo Austria.
"This win will be a good morale booster for us, giving us more confidence going to our next game against Meralco (on Saturday in Candon)," he added.
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Perez took the scoring cudgels with 23, making 11 of them in the payoff period to help the Beermen regain their wits after relinquishing control in the face of Magnolia's furious second-half storm and even trailing at 69-74 in the last 4:24.
Perez complemented this with 10 assists, six rebounds, and four steals en route to Player of the Game honors.
Jabari Narcis shot 18 and grabbed 23 boards, June Mar Fajardo produced 13-14-6, Juami Tiongson also made 13 and Cruz scored 10 to back up Perez.
Ricardo Ratliffe banged in 24-15 for Magnolia while Mark Barroca netted 13 that went with six assists on his milestone 600th consecutive game in the pro league that was dampened by the painful setback. (OL)
The Scores :
SAN MIGUEL 85 - Perez 23, Narcis 18, Tiongson 13, Fajardo 13, Cruz 10, Lassiter 8, Ross 0, Brondial 0, Trollano 0, Cahilig 0.
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MAGNOLIA 78 - Ratliffe 24, Barroca 13, Lucero 9, Lasimosa 9, Sangalang 6, Dela Rosa 4, Abueva 4, Alfaro 4, Ahanmisi 3, Balanza 2, Dionisio 0, Laput 0.
QUARTERS : 20-17, 40-29, 60-60, 85-78.
