By JEREMIAH SEVILLA
SMART CLARK GIGA CITY ‒ San Miguel brought its playoff hopes back to life after beating league-leader Barangay Ginebra, 81-66, in the PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday night at the Angeles University Foundation Arena here.
The Beermen unleashed a massive run in the second quarter behind Marcio Lassiter then foiled the Kings’ comeback bid to arrest their two-game losing skid.
San Miguel kept its twice-to-beat bid alive as it forged a four-way deadlock at No. 4 with Meralco, Alaska and Magnolia with similar 6-4 records.
Mo Tautuaa tallied a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds while Lassiter, who fought through an injury, poured eight of his 12 points in the defending champion’s 15-0 surge for a commanding 42-25 lead in the second quarter.
Veterans Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot and Bambam Gamalinda chipped in 11 points, respectively, in the all-important win.
“The players were motivated by our situation right now because our status is we have to win our last two games or else we will be eliminated,” said coach Leo Austria.
San Miguel went up by much as 20 points, 56-36, on Cabagnot’s free throws early in the third period but Scottie Thompson sparked Ginebra’s 17-0 run to close within 53-56.
Ross then took over to restore order for the Beermen, 70-64, with 4:37 remaining in the game.
Japeth Aguilar had 13 points and five rebounds while Thompson and Aljon Mariano had 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for Ginebra.
Despite the defeat, the Kings remained atop the standings together with TNT on an identical 7-3 slate.
The Tim Cone-coached team could still secure the top seed with a win over cellar-dweller Terrafirma on Monday.
Meantime, Cone vehemently denied that their loss to the Beermen who are their “sister company’ under San Miguel Corporation was part of the “sagip kapamilya” theory, saying: “I assure you I want to beat San Miguel more than anybody.
Cone claimed that they came out flat due to ‘dead legs”.
“We were 4-for-31 from three-point line. I don’t know what happened with TnT against us. We just have dead legs,” said Cone.
But he was pleased with the way they managed to recover and threaten the Beermen early in the fourth quarter.
“And the big picture is we’re trying to make a huge effort coming back to that game with our key players and then turn around and play KIA (Terrafirma) tomorrow and risk losing that game because we’re dead-tired. So it doesn’t make sense.”
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 81 – Tautuaa 20, Lassiter 12, Cabagnot 11, Ross 11, Gamalinda 11, Pessumal 7, Santos 7, Zamar 2, Mamaril 0, Comboy 0, Escoto 0.
GINEBRA 66 – Aguila J. 13, Thompson 12, Mariano 11, Tolentino 8, Pringle 7, Caperal 7, Dillinger 2, Chan 2, Dela Cruz 2, Aguilar R. 2, Salado 0, Tenorio 0, Devance 0, Balanza 0.
Quarters: 27-22, 53-36,64-56, 81-66
