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Locals shine as SMB snaps skid vs ROS

By Dugout Philippines

QUEZON CITY--San Miguel Beer's local crew bridged the gap as import Terik Bridgeman continued to grope for form in his second game in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos led the Beermen charge as they checked a two-game skid with a 103-96 drubbing of the Elasto Painters in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday.

Bridgeman made the first basket of the game on an alley-oop pass by Alex Cabagnot then took so long to score another bucket.

And SMB coach Leo Austria deemed it better to just bank on his locals.

Austria later said they're fielding another import sub in Terrence Watson in their next game.

"He arrived this morning but we still need to accomplish some papers. Definitely, he's already playing in our next game," said Austria, referring to Watson who played college ball with Mott Community College, Mississippi and Ball State.

Ross delivered a personal conference high of 27 points as the Beermen gained some relief, nailing a second win in their last five games and fourth in seven games overall.

Lassiter came through with 22 points, including three treys, Fajardo dished out a double-double game with 17 markers and 14 boards while Santos contributed 18 points, six rebounds and two blocks off the bench.

"We're relieved as we couldn't afford a third straight loss. We needed this game as we're on the slump and we're not playing our usual game," said Austria.

"I'm happy for the players they showed tremendous energy even those players who came off the bench," Austria added.

San Miguel caught up with Rain or Shine at sixth place behind Ginebra (6-1), NLEX (7-2), Meralco (5-2), TNT KaTropa (5-3) and Star (4-2) as the Beermen snapped the E-Painters' three-game winning streak.

Even with a meager help from Bridgeman, the Beermen dominated the game, racing to a 17-point lead shortly before the halftime break.

The E-Painters actually charged to within three at 66-69 but then faded away as quickly.

J'Nathan Bullock led the losing side with a near triple-double job with 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

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