ANTIPOLO – San Miguel took its second straight win since Leo Austria returned as head coach, defeating Blackwater, 115-102, on Sunday in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center.
The Beermen finally put the game away midway through the fourth quarter behind June Mar Fajardo, who took charge with 27 points and 22 rebounds in a game which the Bossing surprisingly kept close up until that point.
SMB improved to 3-2 (win-loss) after Austria was reinstalled as head coach last Friday.
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Torren Jones also finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds for San Miguel, which turned the game around for good after a 13-5 blast that gave the Beermen their biggest lead at 113-98.
Still, Austria wasn’t entirely happy with a game that saw the Beermen trail 18-26 at the end of the first quarter.
“I’m not so happy kasi mataas ‘yung turnover [count] namin,” said Austria, referring to the 17-9 discrepancy discrepancy between the two teams in errors. “But kahit anong sama ng laro, kahit one point, a win is a win."
CJ Perez and Jericho Cruz had 15 and 14 points respectively, while Drei Cahilig was a revelation in the fourth quarter by scoring six of his eight points in that stretch.
Blackwater dropped to 1-4 after picking up its first win last Thursday against Meralco.
George King had 40 points, while Sedrick Barefield added 17 points for the Bossing.
The scores:
San Miguel 115 – Jones 29, Fajardo 27, Perez 15, Cruz 14, Trollano 11, Cahilig 8, Lassiter 5, Ross 4, Rosales 2, Tautuaa 0, Enciso 0, Brondial 0.
Blackwater 102 – King 40, Barefield 17, David 10, Ilagan 9, Chua 6, Ponferada 6, Suerte 5, Kwekuteye 5, Guinto 4, Casio 0, Escoto 0, Hill 0.
Quarters: 18-26; 55-48; 85-77; 115-102.
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