By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel just looked too comfortable in its familiar playground in the PBA semifinals.
The Beermen were calm and collected even against the repeated rallies from the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to come away with a 101-98 victory and draw first blood in Game 1 of the best-of-seven affair in the 2024 Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, May 15.
June Mar Fajardo steadied the ship for the Beermen, posting his 12th double-double of the conference with 23 points and 11 rebounds against a hungry Elasto Painters which kept themselves within striking distance even in the waning seconds of the contest.
Marcio Lassiter started it all for SMB, firing away 16 points – built on four triples – all of which he scored in the first half while Don Trollano added 16 points off the bench.
Terrence Romeo also played quality minutes with 14 points while CJ Perez bucked a slow start and still reached double figures with 13.
Game 2 of the series is still at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday, May 19.
Although the overwhelming favorite in the series, SMB still had to earn the win against youthful ROS team which was proving to be a no pushover even against the seasoned veterans of the defending champions.
The Beermen just couldn’t pull away as after building a sizable lead, even reaching to as high as 10 points, the Elasto Painters kept coming, even cutting a once eight-point lead, 91-99 to just three, 98-101 with 31 seconds left.
Rain or Shine even had the chance to send the game to an extra period but the play off the timeout, initially drawn for Jhonard Clarito was perfectly anticipated by the SMB defense, forcing Andrei Caracut to heave a trey from way out.
He, however, back-ironed the triple that could have tied the score at 101-all and possibly sent the game to an extra period.
Gian Mamuyac sustained the stellar performance from the conference-high showing in the do-or-die win against TNT with 20 points while Beau Belga, thanks to a scoring spurt in the third frame, broke out of a shooting slump to fire with 17.
Clarito and Santi Santillan added 13 apiece in a losing effort for ROS whose chances of pulling off the upset against SMB was also reduced after missing 11 free throws in a game decided by a single possession.
