MANILA: Mentally, San Miguel Beer was preoccupied with something else, as coach Leo Austria believes.

Still, the Beermen were too much to handle for such a lowly team like Barako Bull.

With Arwind Santos missing just one field goal attempt and San Miguel’s imposing frontline asserting its will on the Energy, the Beermen remained unscathed in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations after a 103-89 victory at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Santos finished with 27 points, including the back-breaking three-pointer with 1:05 remaining as San Miguel survived a close brush with disaster to rise to 3-0 and claim a piece of the lead with idle Alaska.

Marcio Lassiter fired 20 points and June Mar Fajardo, the reigning MVP, drilled in 18 points that went with 11 rebounds as the Beermen dealt the Energy a third straight defeat and shoved them in the company of newcomer Blackwater in the cellar.

The game was close all throughout, certainly not the complexion anticipated in a match-up pitting a tournament leader against a doormat.

Barako Bull even held the lead several times in the fourth period before the Beermen woke up and finished off the Energy with a flurry.

And Austria blames the Beermen’s lack of concentration, saying that the intensity level of his squad was at a low because they are anticipating a mammoth clash with the Aces for the solo lead on Wednesday.

“I’m surprised that our energy level was too low,” Austria, who took over Todd Purves after last season, said. “Maybe they (his players) were thinking of our next game (which is against Alaska on Wednesday).

“We almost paid for it,” added Austria.

Alaska and San Miguel are the only undefeated sides in the tournament.

San Miguel, which has not won a championship since 2010 despite its star-studded roster, held just an 83-82 lead heading into the final six minutes before it held the Energy to just six points the rest of the way.

Dennis Miranda paced the Energy with 17 points with sophomore swingman Carlo Lastimosa, a nephew of all-time great Jojo Lastimosa, shooting nine of his 12 points in the fourth period that kept the Energy in the game.

While San Miguel struggled to keep focused in the first game, Talk 'N Text was all business in the second and never gave Rain or Shine a chance.

Breaking away in the second period and sustaining the heat the rest of the way, the Tropang Texters waylaid Rain or Shine, 99-76, to get back in the groove and bounce back from a momentous foldup against Alaska last week.

Ranidel de Ocampo tossed in 20 points, rookie Kevin Alas canned 18 that went with six rebounds and four assists and three others tossed in twin digits as the Texters displayed their most impressive form to improve to 2-2.

The Elasto Painters, after coming off a 29-point ripping of KIA Motors last week, were the ones who looked in disarray and practically bowed out of the game as early as the third period after trailing by as large as 25 points.

Jeff Chan paced Rain or Shine with 16 points, but Paul Lee wasn’t on the floor from late in the third period after suffering another injury in an accidental clash with Ryan Reyes.

For the second game this conference, Lee limped off the floor after getting a shot in the right shin from Reyes’ knee. He finished with just eight points after playing just 13 minutes.

“We just made sure that we would fix what went wrong against Alaska,” Talk ‘N Text coach Jong Uichico said. The Texters lost an 18-point second half lead against the Aces to lose, 100-98, after Calvin Abueva made the game-winning floater at the buzzer.

“Calvin just singlehandedly manhandled us in that game,” Uichico continued. “We just made sure that tonight, we wouldn’t be losing our intensity even if we had a big lead.”