MANILA — The defending champion San Miguel Beer razed a 15-point first-half deficit to overwhelm the Alaska Aces, 109-96, in a PBA Philippine Cup road game Saturday night at Batangas City Coliseum. Their seventh win in nine games allowed the Beermen to regain the solo top spot in the standings.
The Beermen were still down by nine points, 62-71, with 3:10 left in the third quarter when the deadly foursome of Chris Ross, June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, and Arwind Santos caught fire, blasting the Aces with a 22-2 run bridging the last two quarters en route to their seventh win in nine games.
The win enabled the Beermen to bounce back from a stunning 10-point upset loss to Blackwater.
Alaska absorbed a second straight loss and fell to a 6-4 win-loss card at solo fourth place.
Ross led SMB with 24 points on top of nine assists, three rebounds, four steals and just one turnover in 37 minutes of action.
Lassiter and Santos added 21 points apiece. Lassiter also had eight rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in 40 minutes while Santos also collected 14 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and two steals in over 41 minutes. Santos punctuated his heroics with his trademark Spiderman dunk that gave SMB a 98-87 lead with less than two minutes left.
Fajardo also had a double-double of 17 points and 18 rebounds, along with one block, and one steal.
With starting point guard Alex Cabagnot still recovering from his injury, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser came off the bench to punch 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Before SMB’s devastating fourth-quarter run, Alaska appeared in control of the match, leading, 46-31, halfway through the second quarter. But the Aces were caught flatfooted late in the second half when the Beermen pressed on the gas.
JVee Casio led Alaska with 20 points and six assists. Sonny Thoss added 15 markers while Kevin Racal and Vic Manuel chipped in 13 markers in a losing effort. Shooters Chris Banchero and Jeron Teng were not fielded by Alaska coach Alex Compton for still unknown reasons.
Games Sunday: NLEX Road Warriors (5-4) vs. Blackwater Elite (4-5) and Meralco Bolts (3-6)vs. Barangay Ginebra Kings (5-4).
