San Miguel rallies to score thrilling win over NLEX

TENSE: San Miguel's AZ Reid, right, is challenged by NLEX's Henry Walker during their PBA Governors’ Cup match at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao on Friday night. (AN photo)

Looking like a goner already, San Miguel Beer dug deep in the dying seconds to chalk up the best come-from-behind win in the young PBA Governors’ Cup.
The Beermen dropped two triples inside the final 27.3 seconds on Friday night – with Marcio Lassiter hitting the dagger with seven-tenths of a second left – to pull out a 94-93 win over NLEX for a share of the lead in the season-ending conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Alex Cabagnot hit the first of those treys in transition and the Beermen pounced on the Road Warriors’ moments of indecision to win a second straight game and catch the idle Meralco Bolts and Mahindra Enforcers at the top of the heap with a 2-0 card.
It was a sorry loss for the Road Warriors, who held a 93-88 lead going into the final 60 seconds and looked like they were the ones who were going to climb into a tie with the Bolts and the Enforcers.
Henry Walker, who finished with 33 points to lead all scorers, had the ball after Cabagnot had made it 93-91 with the first of those two triples, only to throw up an airball of a short jumper that left a lot of time on the clock for the Beermen to come up with their game-winning play.
Actually, Arizona Reid was supposed to take the last shot for the Beermen, only for Sean Anthony to lose his defensive assignment – Lassiter – and give the league’s deadliest outside gun a wide-open look for the game-winning shot.
“We were lucky,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said. “We were really on the verge of losing this one.”
Lassiter was having such a rough night before getting the chance to play the hero.
“I have been telling him (Lassiter) to keep on shooting even if he is not having a good game,” Austria said. “He still had the confidence to take the last shot.”
Reid slowed down in the second half after suffering from a mild contusion because of a bad fall in the third period, and Austria needed to go to his second stringers for the goods in the fourth period.
Yancy De Ocampo had two crucial baskets and the veteran Gary David tossed in nine of his 13 in the final frame before Cabagnot and Lassiter sealed the deal with those booming treys.
Reid finished with 23 points, 19 of them coming in the first two periods, while Cabagnot added 19 and June Mar Fajardo, the reigning two-time MVP, chipping in with 16.
Jonas Villanueva was the only other player in double figures for the Road Warriors with 14. He missed what would have been the game-winning three-point attempt at the buzzer.
In the nightcap, Blackwater pinned a second straight loss on talent-laden Star after Eric Dawson hit the final three points in a 100-98 win.
Allein Maliksi gave the Hotshots a 98-97 lead with 14 seconds left after connecting on a gutsy three-pointer in transition, before Dawson hit a left-handed layup on the other end that shoved the Elite ahead to stay, 99-98.
Maliksi again had the chance to play hero, but his jumper was swatted away by JP Erram before Dawson split his charities with 2.1 seconds remaining as Blackwater rose to 1-1.
Star, which lost import Marqus Blakely to fouls with still 10 minutes left, lost to a lightweight foe yet again and dropped to 0-2. The Hotshots’ first loss came at the hands of the Mahindra Enforcers last week.
Meanwhile, the Bolts gun for a third straight win on Saturday afternoon when they clash with Tropang TNT in the 3 p.m. game also scheduled at the historic Big Dome floor.
Allen Durham has been having a very dominating conference thus far for the Bolts and is expected to pose a lot of problems for the short-handed Texters, who will continue to be without four key men – counting rookie Troy Rosario – who are out with various injuries.
Rain or Shine, which folded up in its debut against the Texters on Wednesday night, tries to atone for that collapse later at 5:15 p.m. when the Elasto Painters battle Phoenix Petroleum.