Cabagnot goes clutch anew as San Miguel wins offensive slugfest against Rain or Shine in OT




By: Patrick Sutare

PASAY- San Miguel and Rain or Shine both caught a hot-shooting night on Friday, but it was the Beermen who came out winning the shootout that ended in an overtime thriller, 107-101, at the Mall of Asia Arena for the PBA Philippine Cup.

Down two with 5.2 second left in regulation after forcing a turnover, the Beermen once again banked on the heroics of Alex Cabagnot who sent the game to extra five minutes after drilling a contested long range two-pointer.

In overtime, the defending champs turned to their common guns to take the wheel.

Junemar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter set the pace at the start of OT with five quick points, as the late breaks brought them to topping the feisty Elasto Painters, outscoring them 11-5 in the extra period.

Limited offensively in first half, SMB's prized big man Fajardo shifted to full aggression after, scoring 21 of his game-high 25 points in the succeeding periods to lead the Beermen to its seventh consecutive win.

The Beermen now sits at 8-1, still at solo top spot.

A see-saw battle from tip off to the final horn, the Elasto Painters knew the game could have gone the other way had they fought shy of lapses down the stetch to protect a 88-81 advantage midway through the fourth and a 96-90 lead into the last two minutes.

The letdown had them suffered a dry spell in the final 2:38 in regulation that led to an onslaught from SMB to cap the game's first 48 minutes.

Beau Belga paced ROS with 14 points, five boards and three steals while Chris Tiu registered 13 as the Elasto Painters fall to five wins against three losses, tied with Globalport at second place.

The scores:

SAN MIGUEL 107 - Fajardo 25, Garcia 17, Santos 17, Cabagnot 14, Lassiter 14, de Ocampo 12, Espinas 4, Ross 4

RAIN OR SHINE 101 - Belga 14, Tiu 13, Chan11, Ahanmisi 11, Cruz 9, Ponferada 9, Maiquez 8, Washington 8, Norwood 6, Tolomia 4, Trollano 4, Matias 4, Yap 3

Quarterscores: 32-28, 56-49, 71-75, 96-96, 107-101

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