MARCIO Lassiter shook off his first half struggles to lead a big third quarter explosion that powered San Miguel Beer to a sixth straight win with a 112-103 victory over Converge Friday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the PhilSports Arena.
The Beermen came charging back from a 43-50 halftime deficit through a 51-point third quarter, thanks largely to Lassiter hitting his first six shots of the period, including all five of his three-point tries, for 17 of his total 19 points.
"I was very hesitant in the first half and coach had to give me a talk and say: 'Hey, you got to take your shots because it's not helping our team if you're not gonna stretch the floor,'" related Lassiter, who went scoreless in the first half despite six attempts.
"That's what I did. I am always confident in my shot. I just had to get it going, wake up, and that's kind of what I did," added Lassiter, who now has 1,193 triples that put him just one shy of James Yap's fourth-running total in the all-time list.
With the likes of CJ Perez, Don Trollano and June Mar Fajardo joining the fray, SMB built up as high as a 93-68 lead before maintaining a 104-79 separation going to the last 7:33 of the game.
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In the end, SMB maintained its unbeaten record while unofficially securing one of the eight quarterfinals slots, based on past tournaments. Such an advance would be official once SMB continues racking up more wins in its last five elimination round games.
For now, coach Jorge Gallent simply wants his team to stop getting off to bad starts which happened against Terrafirma last April 10 and now Converge, that got off to an early 34-22 lead.
"Those teams like to start hard, they like to set the pace," Gallent pointed out. "Terrafirma and Converge, we played after seven, nine days so the basketball sense was not there, first quarter especially.
When we gathered ourselves, we just played San Miguel basketball."
Perez flirted with a triple double before finishing with 25 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists while Trollano, who was also scoreless in the first half, wound up with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Terrence Romeo had 18 points, 13 of those coming in the second quarter that kept SMB within striking distance while Fajardo chipped in 14 points, 17 rebounds, and four blocks for the Beermen, who missed Jericho Cruz due to a left knee contusion.
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The loss was Converge's eighth in as many outings and 12th straight since the season-opening Commissioner's Cup, virtually eliminating it from playoff contention.
For naught went Alec Stockton's new career-high of 36 points and six rebounds, as well as Justin Arana's 18 points. (NC)
