ANTIPOLO City - San Miguel lost a huge 22-point lead but hang tough in the face of a fiery Meralco comeback, 103-97, for its second straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night.
The Beermen rode on the scoring exploits of Alex Cabagnot and four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo to thwart a huge second half run by the Bolts sparked by the hot three-point shooting of sophomore guard Mike Tolomia and seldom-used big man Ken Bono.
Cabagnot finished with a game-high 29 points, while Fajardo scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Beermen raised their record at 2-0 for a share of the early lead with idle NLEX.
Fajardo also went 12 of 17 from the field and added nine rebounds.
Coach Leo Austria admitted the experience was a great lesson for the three-time defending champions.
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"That's the tendency usually of players, human nature, e. They thought it's going to be an easy ride. But it's not," he said in the post-game interview at the Ynares Center here.
"It's a good test because if you're up against a very coachable team, handled by a great coach in Norman Black, you can't rest until the final buzzer."
San Miguel appeared ready to coast late in the first half after racing to a 55-33 lead behind a 60 percent shooting from the three-point area (9-of-15) led by Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter.
But the Bolts, who missed the services of veteran guard Jared Dillinger (hamstring injury), caught fire in the third quarter as Tolomia fired 15 of his team-high 21 points and teamed up with Bono, Chris Newsome, KG Canaleta, Garvo Lanete, and Reynel Hugnatan.
Twice, they trimmed down the lead to just a point, the last one at 72-71 on a Hugnatan trey with two minutes left in the period.
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The reigning champions however, went on a 9-2 run to raise the lead back to 81-73 entering the payoff period.
"Right now we're just trying to maximize our potential. Our first two games we keep on learning. We know our weaknesses and our strength," said Austria.
"Tonight's game, nakita natin yung weakness namin which ini-exploit ni coach Norman," he added. Fortunately, the players didn't want to lose."
Canaleta had 17points, Hugnatan with 16, while Newsome and Lanete combined for 23 points for the Bolts, who suffered their first loss in two outings.
