MANILA, Philippines – Three Beermen breached the 20-point mark while June Mar Fajardo registered another double-double as San Miguel subdued the Alaska Aces, 109-96, to regain the top spot in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup at the Batangay City Sports Coliseum Saturday, February 17. 

Chris Ross delivered 24 points, 9 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds; Marcio Lassiter churned out 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks; while Arwind Santos chalked up 21 points, 14 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and two steals to propel the Beermen to a 7-2 card. 

Fajardo scored 17 points and hauled down 18 rebounds in steering the Beermen back to the winning column after a dismal showing in their 96-106 loss to the Blackwater Elite on February 9.

San Miguel trailed by as much as 15 points in the second quarter, 46-31, before turning its fortunes around in the last two periods, mounting an 11-point lead with 2:39 left in the game thanks to Lassiter’s hot hand, 96-85.

The Aces tried to stage a late comeback by trimming their deficit to just 5 points off an 8-2 run, opened and ended by a JVee Casio triple, 93-98.

However, Ross’ freebies and Santos’ back-to-back buckets put San Miguel back up by 11, 104-93, with 34 seconds remaining. 

Casio finished with a personal conference-high 20 points and 6 assists but all that went down the drain as the Aces absorbed their second straight loss.

Sonny Thoss added 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists while Kevin Racal and Vic Manuel had 13 points apiece for Alaska, which slid to 4th place behind a 6-4 slate.

The Scores:

San Miguel (109): Ross 24, Lassiter 21, Santos 21, Fajardo 17, Ganuelas-Rosser 11, De Ocampo 6, Lanete 4, Heruela 3, Vigil 2, Pessumal 0, Semerad 0

Alaska (96): Casio 20, Thoss 145, Racal 13, Manuel 13, R. Pascual 9, Enciso 9, Abueva 7, Cruz 6, Exciminiano 4, J. Pascual 0, Baclao 0, Potts 0

Quarter scores: 16-26, 41-50, 71-74, 109-96

– Rappler.com