THE reigning champions San Miguel Beermen stopped its two-game slump with a 105-98 win over the TerraFirma Dyip in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup on Monday, October 19, 2020, at the AUF Sports Arena & Cultural Center in Pampanga.
The win, which bumped San Miguel’s win-loss record to an even 2-2, was far from convincing as the Beermen leaned on clutch shots from its veteran core of Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot to put away the resilient Dyip squad.
Up by just two at the end of the third quarter, the Beermen made their move in the fourth as a three-point play by Lassiter gave San Miguel an 87-78 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game.
But TerraFirma kept on coming and pulled to within four, 86-90, after a layup by Rashawn Mccarthy. Lassiter and Paul Zamar then responded with buckets of their own to raise San Miguel’s lead back to eight. However, the Dyip brought the deficit down to five, 89-94,with a three-pointer from Philip Cahilig.
That, however, would be the closest that TerraFirma would get as Lassiter found an opening for a jumper while Moala Tautuaa canned a basket to bring San Miguel’s lead back to nine, 98-89, with 4:17 to go.
After a forgettable outing against TNT, Tautuaa bounced back by scoring 25 points to lead San Miguel to the hard-earned victory. Santos had 20 points and 14 rebounds while Lassiter fired in 18 points and issued seven assists.
Von Pessumal also came off the bench and helped out in a huge way, contributing 17 points.
CJ Perez led TerraFirma, which lost its third game in a row, with 20 points, nine boards and six assists. (JNP)