SAN Miguel came back to life on Friday night, beating Phoenix, 117-100, to give its playoff bid in the PBA Governors' Cup a timely, much-needed boost.
The Beermen ended a three-game losing and improved to 3-4 (win-loss) at the end of an ill-tempered game marred by a skirmish involving Calvin Abueva and SMB import Kevin Murphy.
Murphy got entangled with Abueva under the basket at the final 4:11 mark. Murphy was slapped with a flagrant foul 1 in the incident.
Averaging 41 points entering the match, Murphy ended up with 26 points and seven rebounds but got help from Christian Standhardinger and Marcio Lassiter.
Standhardinger had 29 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks while Lassiter contributed 26 points and made five three-pointers for the Beermen.
The Beermen went on a 9-0 run to break open what until then was a close game, 80-70. The lead soon swelled to as many as 20 points.
“We are so thankful for this win. This is a crucial game for us. Everybody (stepped up) especially on defense,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
“We’ve been criticized for not playing good defense but tonight, nakita nila na may depensa pala kami,” he added.
Eugene Phelps had 37 points and 25 rebounds for Phoenix, which fell to 6-3.
The scores:
San Miguel 117 – Standhardinger 29, Lassiter 26, Murphy 26, Cabagnot 12, Santos 10, Ross 8, Nabong 6, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
Phoenix 100 – Phelps 37, Jazul 16, Abueva 13, Wright 11, Perkins 10, Intal 7, Chua 6, Revilla 0, Kramer 0, Mendoza 0, Wilson 0.
Quarters: 25-31; 56-45; 82-75; 117-100.
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