ANTIPOLO - San Miguel snatched its first win in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner's Cup the hard way, holding its ground in the final seconds to hold off Converge, 103-99, in a Wednesday thriller at the Ynares Center.
Don Trollano buried two free throws with 27.2 seconds left after a foul by Alec Stockton to break a 99-99 deadlock, keeping the Beermen's head above water in the face of wave after wave of Converge fightbacks in the endgame.
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Stockton missed a three-point shot in the next possession, leading to June Mar Fajardo scoring an uncontested lay-up that settled the final score and atoned for the Beermen's opening loss to minnow Titan Ultra.
Fajardo came away with 27 points and 17 rebounds, Cjay Perez had 24 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals, while veteran sniper Marcio Lassiter scored all his 11 points in the final quarter for the Beermen.
The loss sent Converge to its third straight defeat after an opening win as the FiberXers once again missed Calvin Abueva and Juan Gomez de Liano due to injuries.
“This is the kind of game na kailangang ma-experience namin at the early start of the conference,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria. “The last game we had against Titan was really frustrating… I'm so happy tonight na nakita natin tunay na laro ng San Miguel. In a close fight, naka-focus sila.”
San Miguel earned the win as the Beermen could only pull away by as many as seven points, 88-81, in the fourth only for Converge to come back and tie the match-up on a Mikey Williams three and an assist to Kylor Kelley for a dunk with 5:36 left.
Incidentally, Williams played his best game in a Converge uniform after chipping in 14 points and eight assists.
The scores:
San Miguel 103 – Fajardo 27, Perez 24, Trollano 18, Lassiter 11, Lee 10, Tautuaa 7, Miller 4, Rosales 2, Tiongson 0, Brondial 0, Cahilig 0.
Converge 99 – Baltazar 19, Stockton 17, Williams 14, Concepcion 13, Kelley 12, Garcia 11, Arana 6, Policarpio 5, Reyson 2, Muyang 0, Santos 0.
Quarters: 20-25; 42-50; 73-71; 103-99.
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