Beermen rip import-less Elite

Game today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4:30 p.m. – TNT vs Meralco

6:45 p.m. – Alaska vs Phoenix

MANILA, Philippines — Ranged against an import-less Blackwater side, Charles Rhodes and five-peat all-Filipino champ San Miguel Beer pounced on the advantage and asserted its might to break through with a 127-106  triumph in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the MOA Arena.

Without the hulking Alex Stepheson (bum stomach) on the other end, Rhodes flexed his muscles and filled up his statsline with 32 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks while Marcio Lassiter waxed hot from downtown with nine triples in a complementary 29 points as SMB finally got on track after a 0-2 start.

Clearly depowered by Stepheson’s absence,  the Elite saw their two-game roll snapped, and fell out of top spot at 5-2.

Stepheson, the league’s top rebounder with an average of 22 per game to go with 22.2 points and 2.2 blocks per match, sat it out due to ill effects of food poisoning. He flew back to the US for treatment and is expected to be back on Tuesday    

“It’s a big win for us as we avoided falling into 0-3, a hole that’s so hard to climb out of, considering the elims only have 11 games and teams at the top already have five, four wins,” said SMB coach Leo Austria.

Later, slow-starting Magnolia also got on its feet as it outduelled NLEX, 98-88,  in a battle of winless squads. 

James Farr (24 markers, 21 boards) and Ian Sangalang (21 and seven) showed the way as the Hotshots improved to 1-2 while giving NLEX coach Yeng Guiao a losing return from vacation.

Guiao didn’t actually finish the game after incurring his second technical late in the fourth as the Road Warriors slid to 0-6.

Back in the SMB-Blackwater game, Rhodes fuelled their breakaway in the windup of the first quarter, muscling his way to eight straight points as the Beermen took a 29-21 upperhand.

SMB’s second unit joined the fray in the second, doing damage from long-range to widen the gap to 15 points, 62-47, at the  break. Von Pessumal, picking up from his record 8-of-8 three-point shooting in their previous game, drilled in four from downtown while Paul Zamar  helped out with a couple of treys.

Blackwater mounted a late raly but the hot-shooting Lassiter mopped it up for SMB with a searing 21-point performance in the final canto. It was Lassiter’s second nine-triple outing in his career, making him only the fifth player in history to have multiple games of at least nine treys after Allan Caidic, Kenneth Duremdes, Renren Ritualo and Tanduay import Rob Williams.

Rayray Parks (23) and Mike DiGregorio (18) took scoring cudgels for the Elite sans Stepheson.

Notes: Meralco replaced Gani Lawal with Jimmie Lee Taylor as its import in time for today’s Petron Blaze Saturday Special match-up with Terrence Jones-led TNT KaTropa. “He’s 6-9 and is a defensive presence in the paint area,” said Bolts coach Norman Black of Taylor. Lawal, was relegated to the injured/reserve list.

The scores:

First Game

San Miguel 127 – Rhodes 32, Lassiter 29, Cabagnot 19, Fajardo 12, Pessumal 12, Rosser 7, Zamar 8, Ross 6, Standhardinger 2. 

Blackwater 106 – Parks 23, DiGregorio 18, Sumang 17, Al-Hussaini 11, Maliksi 11, Javier 6, Sena 5, Tratter 5, Cortez 4, Belo 2, Banal 2, Alolino 2, Jose 0, Desiderio 0.

Quarterscores:  29-21, 62-47, 90-74, 127-106

Second Game

Magnolia 98 – Farr 24, Sangalang 21, Lee 11, Jalalon 10, Barroca 7, Ramos 6, Melton 5, Dela Rosa 5, Brondial 4, Herndon 3, Simon 2, Pascual 0, 

NLEX 88 – Mitchell 22, Ighalo 14, Quinahan 12, Lao 8, Erram 7, Cruz 6, Galanza 5, Paredes 4, Paniamogan 3, Monfort 3, Tiongson 2, Rios 2, Baguio 0.

Quarterscores: 27-29, 45-49, 73-71, 98-88.