SMB takes twice-to-beat edge, sends ROS to brink of elimination

PBA

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY--San Miguel earned a twice-to-beat advantage come the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinals after downing Rain Or Shine, 82-75, in a crucial elimination round match at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday night.

The Beermen went on a crucial mini-run late in the fourth quarter to preserve the victory highlighted by a huge defensive effort they poured out on the Elasto Painters, who found themselves at the brink of an early ouster.

SMB limited ROS to only nine points in the second quarter and opened a 42-30 lead at halftime, but the latter recovered in the third quarter and came to as close as three points, the last at 55-58 with 41.9 seconds left in the period.

The Beermen looked to pull away again, opening the final canto on a 7-1 run to lead, 67-56, but the E-Painters countered anew by outscoring them, 18-9, later in the period to cut the lead down to two, 76-74, with 3:11 left.

San Miguel finally broke through with a huge 6-0 run inside the last two minutes that sealed the win.

Mike Singletary, despite not feeling well entering the game, still put up impressive stats of 23 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block for the Beermen, who moved up to 7-3.

Arwind Santos chipped in 20 points, nine rebounds, one assist, and four blocks in his best performance since coming back from a knee surgery.

Josh Dollard debuted for the Elasto Painters with 18 points, nine rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block off the bench.

Box Scores:

San Miguel 82-Singletary 23, Santos 20, Fajardo 11, Lassiter 6, Tubid 6, Arana 4, De Ocampo 4, Abdeen 2, Espinas 2, Heruela 2, Ross 2

Rain Or Shine 75-Dollard 18, Ponferada 12, Cruz 10, Quinahan 10, Ahanmisi 6, Belga 6, Norwood 5, Trollano 5, Lee 2, Almazan 1, Chan 0, Tiu 0

Quarterscores: 23-21, 42-30, 60-55, 82-75

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