SMB just escapes this time

MANILA, Philippines — After three blowouts, San Miguel Beer survived its toughest test yet under new coach Jorge Gallent against win-starved Magnolia – barely.

With a mix of clutch shots and endgame breaks, the Beermen scored a 100-98 escape act over the Hotshots to stay unbeaten in the PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen led by nine in the last 1:20 on a putback by Cameron Clark but had to weather a late storm from the desperate Hotshots before getting away with their fourth straight win.

Despite giving Magnolia a lifeline after CJ Perez flubbed what should have been a pair of insurance free throws, Gallent’s charges still emerged unscathed as Paul Lee missed a contested game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.

It wasn’t as pretty as the previous routs versus Phoenix, Blackwater and Terrafirma but the Beermen gratefully took this one as they joined fellow 4-0 record-holders Converge and NLEX atop the leaderboard.

“This was a test for us. Magnolia is a very strong and well-organized team so this was a really big game for us to see where we stand in this league,” said Gallent.

“I told the players to forget about the first three games because Magnolia is really strong and good. So it’s good that we won tonight, beating a strong team, even if they’re 0-3 now. That team will come back,” he added.

Clark paced SMB with 19 plus 10 rebounds while Marcio Lassiter rifled in 18,  all from beyond the arc, and June Mar Fajardo produced a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The Beermen came out of the opening tip blazing, putting the Hotshots in an early 16-4 hole. But the Hotshots were quick to climb out of it and even overtook SMB at the end of the quarter, 29-26, and went into the break still ahead by four.

Later, Justin Brownlee posted a 29-10-11 triple-double as defending champion Barangay Ginebra got off to a winning start at the expense of Rain or Shine, 116-108.

The Gin Kings used a key 11-0 blast in the fourth canto to pull away from the Elasto Painters, who even led by nine at one point before falling to 0-4.

SMB wrested back control with a 32-19 exchange in the third.

Gallent said SMB lost its early upperhand due to a dip in defense.

“If we played bad defense, which we did in the first half, our opponents would make a run,” he said.

“We struggled with our offense in the first half because we weren’t playing defense. We also weren’t reversing the ball and we’re just playing one-on-one. As I always said, we have to play as a unit to progress offensively,” he added.

Lee, with 19, and Jio Jalalon, with 17 took the scoring cudgels for the luckless Hotshots as import Eric McCree, who is reportedly on his way out, finished with 13 on a 4-of-18 clip/