THE San Miguel Beermen fended off another 4th quarter run by a smaller but pesky Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok to take Game 2 of the PBA Philippine Cup with a 92-77 win last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Beermen yet again dominated the game in the first three quarter just like Game 1. San Miguel started off the fourth quarter with a comfortable 18-point lead, 75-57. However, the Hotshots started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run, sparked by Mark Barroca and Kyle Pascual to trim it dow to just seven points, 68-75.
Arwind Santos finally stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer in the 6:57 mark to start a 10-0 rally along with a couple of two-pointers by Junemar Fajardo and Chris Ross, and a three by Marcio Lassiter to bring the lead back up to 17, 85-68.
Magnolia’s Paul Lee hit a three but was answered by a shot from Fajardo inside the paint. Lee converted a free throw after San Miguel’s bench was slapped with a technical foul. Raffy Reavis scored two points to trim it to just 13 points, 74-87, with 1:36 left. Santos hit a three-pointer, while Aldrech Ramos answered with a three of his own before Alex Cabagnot scored from the paint for the final scoreline.
Santos led San Miguel with 24 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Lassiter, Cabagnot and Brian Heruela scored 16, 15 and 10. Fajardo had a relatively silent night with 12 points, 13 boards, three assists and three blocks.
Barroca led Magnolia with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and a block. Lee had 13, while Ian Sangalang added 11.
He will give his boys just 24 hours to rest before hitting the courts for practice despite it being the Holy Week.
“We have a lot of time to reflect on and adjust our game this Holy Week.We will practice until Thursday and will just rest on Friday before preparing for Game 3 again. We have a lot of work to do. Magnolia is a team very determined to win a championship,” he said.
Both teams will have a week’s rest as Game 3 is on April 1 , this Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum. (EKA)