Uniting under their fallen big man who can’t play tonight’s game, the San Miguel Beermen played a heartfelt match against the Alaska Aces, but failed to deliver a win after the Aces made a huge last quarter rally to grab the first finals game win at 100-91.
SMB started like a house on fire, while the Aces had their run behind Calvin “The Beast”Abueva. SMB had the last laugh on a buzzer beater by Alex Cabagnot to end the 1st quarter at 23 all.
At 2nd quarter, both teams tightened their defense, sinking conservative shots. But the Beermen took advantage of the defensive play. Â The half ended with SMB leading 42-38.
In the 3rd, the Beermen’s  Marcio Lassiter  exploded, scoring 7 of his 14 points in the third to give SMB a 64-59 lead,  The 3rd ended 75 -66 on a Gabby Espinas jumper.
But despite the lead, the Aces rallied behind Vic Manuel and struck a tie game  at 86 with  3:22 minutes left on the game clock, while Arwind Santos was booted out of the game after dishing out his 6th foul.
Vic “The Muscle Man” Manuel was awarded best player with 24 points and 5 rebounds
Box Scores:
ALASKA 100 – Manuel 24, Baguio 16, Banchero 15, Abueva 12, Exciminiano 6, Jazul 6, Casio 5, Hontiveros 5, Menk 5, Thoss 4, Baclao 2, Dela Rosa 0.
SAN MIGUEL 91 – Cabagnot 20, Lassiter 19, De Ocampo 18, Tubid 13, Espinas 11, Arana 4, Santos 4, Ross 2, Lutz 0, Semerad 0.
Quarters: 23-23, 42-38, 75-66, 100-91
More highlights in the video below:
