Mar 12, 2018

'Super Mario' steps up at the right time

Marcio Lassiter highlighted his explosive performance in the PBA Philippine Cup semi-finals by making the game-winning putback to give San Miguel a 2-0 series lead over Barangay Ginebra.

Lassiter's back-to-back hot-shooting performances earned him the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period of March 6-11.

The 30-year-old Lassiter kicked off the All-Filipino conference Final Four by knocking down five triples as San Miguel administered a 102-90 beating of a weary Ginebra side last Friday.

The former Smart-Gilas shooter finished that game with 17 points, five rebounds and the same number of assists in 30 minutes as he more than made up for four-time league MVP June Mar Fajardo's quiet offense in Game 1.

Two days later, the PBA's fourth overall pick in 2011 completed SMB's comeback from a 15-point deficit by scoring a putback off Fajardo's missed layup to seal the Beermen's heart-stopping 104-102 overtime win.

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The Beermen are now up, 2-0 in the best-of-seven semifinal series against the crowd darlings.

Lassiter was on target in Game 2 after firing 25 points, laced with four three-pointers, to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in 46 minutes of action.

"Super Marcio" averaged 21 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the Beermen's semifinal victories to beat teammates Fajardo and Arwind Santos, along with NLEX's Cyrus Baguio and Kiefer Ravena for the weekly citation.

The Beermen will be gunning for a commanding 3-0 series bulge come Tuesday when they take on the Gin Kings anew at the Mall of Asia Arena.