June 06, 2017

Beermen clobber Fuel Masters to make it first to Final Four

PHOENIX went into Tuesday's game against San Miguel Beer determined to keep Charles Rhodes and June Mar Fajardo out from the paint where they could do the most harm.

The Fuel Masters relatively succeeded, but simply could not cope with the Beermen's other threats.

With Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot waxing hot from the outside SMB made short work of Phoenix 115-96 and advanced to the semifinals of the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Lassiter scored a personal conference-high 26 points while Cabagnot added 20 as the two combined for 11 of the second seed Beermen's 16 triples that made sure their win-once advantage over the seventh-ranked Fuel Masters did not go to waste.

With Ronald Tubid adding three treys and 14 points, the Philippine Cup titlist managed to withstand a relatively low-scoring night from Rhodes, who was held to a PBA-low 14 points, and Fajardo, who only notched 15.

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With the win SMB arranged a best-of-five semifinal meeting with the winner of the Star-Rain or Shine pairing.

"I really have to commend my players because they really wanted to win this game," said coach Leo Austria, whose Beermen pulled away right in the first quarter and led by as many as 28 points twice.

"They really wanted to get to the semifinals right away. We didn't want to have a Game 2."

It was a sorry loss for Phoenix, which simply could not match up with SMB's more polished inside-outside game.

Jameel McKay finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds whie RJ Jazul waxed hot late to wind up with 14. JC Intal and Gelo Alolino chipped in at least 11 points each, but the likes of Matthew Wright and Cyrus Baguio failed to get into any rhythm.

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Part of the blame is on SMB's defense, which harassed Phoenix into a 39-for-87 field shooting, including a 7-for-27 clip from deep, and 16 turnovers.

The Fuel Masters did go on a 10-0 run to pull within 57-73 and they opened up the fourth with a 5-0 surge to inch even closer at 74-88.

But each time SMB had an answer, with Rhodes and Fajardo getting some form of revenge by putting the exclamation point on the game. Rhodes' foiled Intal's dunk try with a chasedown block, resulting in a Fajardo dunk that made it a very safe 108-85 count, only 2:41 to go.

Rhodes picked up his third foul and had to sit out the final 5:12 of the second period. But that hardly mattered as Lassiter already had 13 points and Tubid 11 in the first half, which SMB took 57-37.

The difference actually stood at 28 points twice as Phoenix opened up the second period making only two of 13 field goal tries and committing four turnovers, giving the Beermen the opening to stretch a 28-21 spread.

It took Alolino and Joseph Eriobu coming off the bench and starring in a 12-4 exchange that kept the game from fully getting out of hand right there for the Fuel Masters.