Lassiter’s triple saves Beermen from Road Warriors

Games Saturday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

3 p.m. – Meralco vs TNT Katropa

5:15 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Phoenix

MANILA, Philippines – Marcio Lassiter threw bricks almost all night long but hit a 3-pointer that he had to make in the dying seconds as San Miguel Beer squeaked past NLEX, 94-93, to gain a share of the early lead in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

Lassiter had muffed all his first six 3-point attempts before nailing the last one as the Beermen avoided what could have been a disappointing loss and caught up with the Meralco Bolts and the Mahindra Enforcers with their identical 2-0 win-loss cards.

NLEX went down to 1-1.

The Beermen blew away a huge 17-point lead in the third quarter but salvaged the game on back-to-back 3-pointers by Alex Cabagnot and Lassiter in the last 27.1 seconds.

The Road Warriors led by five, 93-88, entering the final minute of play only to yield the game on crucial defensive lapses at endgame of the match marred by a heated confrontation between Asi Taulava and David Semerad resulting to a double technical foul. NLEX team manager Ronald Dulatre was also called a “T” in the incident.

“We teetered on the brink but survived, getting lucky with that Lassiter 3-pointer,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

“We designed the final shot for AZ (Reid) although he’s not shooting well. By instinct, he found and gave it to Marcio. Marcio himself had a bad shooting night, but in his final shot, he showed his shooting prowess,” Austria added.

Henry Walker led all scorers with 33 points that went with six rebounds, four assists and two steals but botched two potential game-clinching attempts in the last 20 seconds.

San Miguel got a chance to steal the game after gaining possession with 5.9 seconds to go.

Lassiter buried a trey with five-tenths of a second left and the Beermen made it 3-0 versus the Road Warriors in their head-to-head matches in the season.

The Fil-Am gunner finished with eight markers and nine boards for the Beermen who were led by Reid, Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo with 23, 19 and 16 points, respectively.

Reid and Fajardo made the bulk of their productions in the first half, carrying the Beermen to a 51-41 lead at halftime.

Cabagnot took over in the third period, firing away 10 markers as the Beermen roared to a 17-point spread at 58-41.

The Road Warriors then waged a chase, surging ahead at 68-66 largely behind the exploits of Walker and Jonas Villanueva.

Meanwhile, Meralco and TNT Katropa stake their clean slates as they headline the Petron Blaze Saturday Special at the Big Dome today.

 The Bolts and the Texters clash at 3 p.m. preceeding the 5:15 p.m. face-off between the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the Phoenix Fuel Masters.