ANTIPOLO - George King rescued San Miguel to a 109-104 win over Terrafirma on Saturday in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center.
King intercepted a pass by Juami Tiongson that led to a go-ahead lay-up with 39.1 seconds left, 105-104, to wrest the lead back to the Beermen.
San Miguel eventually held on after losing a 22-point lead behind the exploits of former player Tiongson, who knocked down a three to give Terrafirma a 104-101 with 1:21 left.
San Miguel improved to 2-0, while Terrafirma dropped to 1-3 in yet another close defeat.
The Beermen were already up, 101-97, but lost the lead on a 7-0 run started by Maverick Ahanmisi converting back-to-back lay-ups and ended with that Tiongson three.
SMB responded with an 8-0 finish with King making two free throws and that transition lay-up.
“Now, we can say a win is a win,” San Miguel lead assistant Peter Martin said. “I think they outhustled us, they outplayed us, they outcoached us. Coaching staff of the other side was better than me today.”
King had 37 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks for San Miguel, which played once again without head coach Leo Austria.
Cjay Perez had 22 points, and Don Trollano added 17 points. Jerrick Ahanmisi had nine points, six assists, and three steals in his first game against his former team.
Terrafirma has now lost by an average margin of 2.7 points in their three straight defeats in which a comeback fell short again.
Mortal Sin for San Miguel
The Dyip nearly gave the Beermen the blushes after they came back from a 68-46 deficit.
“I think it’s going to be a mortal sin if San Miguel loses,” Martin said.
“But hindi kami nagkulang sa paalala. In the dugout, that was the first thing we told them. We reminded them that Terrafirma came back from 20 points down in the fourth quarter against two teams, NLEX and Converge. It’s not new.”
Tiongson, in his first game since being traded back to Terrafirma in exchange of Ahanmisi, had 27 points on 5-of-10 shooting from threes.
The scores:
San Miguel 109 – King 37, Perez 22, Trollano 17, Ahanmisi 9, Brondial 8, Tautuaa 6, Cruz 6, Fajardo 2, Hernandez 2, Ross 0, Cahilig 0, Lassiter 0.
Terrafirma 104 – Strings 28, Tiongson 27, Ahanmisi 20, Paraiso 10, Chiu 9, Bravo 8, Mariano 2, Eriobu 0, Catapusan 0, Hanapi 0, Umali 0.
Quarters: 22-15; 66-46; 81-73; 109-104.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
