SMB rallies to edge Blackwater in noontime OT thriller

Mo Tautuaa led the way for the Beermen, but none was more important than his clutch block in OT. PBA Images

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Blackwater and San Miguel made history on Tuesday by becoming the first teams to face off in an official PBA morning game.

But while most of us were eating their lunch, both teams still had to play as the game went into overtime.

In the end, the Beermen prevailed.

SMB pounced on crucial Blackwater errors down the stretch to steal a 90-88 win at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.

The Elite, despite a fourth quarter comeback that spilled to the early goings of the overtime, could not close out the game, letting the Beermen sneak in and grab the victory instead.

However, SMB still had to dodge some bullets.

Down 84-88 with 2:23 left, Chris Ross scored five straight points to give the team an 89-88 lead with 1:14 remaining.

But the Beermen, after forcing a Ron Dennison turnover, missed out on widening the gap as Ross stepped on the baseline while going for a pass.

The Elite still could not find a way to win it as Ed Daquioag gave an errant pass, leading to a backcourt violation.

Dennison bounced back from his previous error by picking Ross' pass, giving them a chance to finally win it.

However, Tolomia misfired his layup attempt, while Dennison had his swatted away by Mo Tautuaa.

Don Trollano had one last chance to retake the lead, but his jumper rattled out of the rim, and Von Pessumal cleared the rebound for the Beermen.

Pessumal, however, left the door open for Blackwater as he only made 1-for-2 from the foul line off a Dennison foul with four seconds left.

With no timeout left for Blackawater, Tolomia was forced to take a long triple attempt from just inside the halfcourt that only hit the rim as time expired.

Tautuaa led SMB, which has now won four straight games to move up to 5-2, with 26 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, and two steals aside from his game-saving block.

Marcio Lassiter added 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Daquioag finished with 20 markers, five boards, three dimes, and one steal for Blackwater, but he too had six turnovers.

Box Scores:

San Miguel 90-Tautuaa 26, Lassiter 12, Cabagnot 11, Pessumal 10, Santos 9, Ross 8, Gamalinda 5, Zamar 4, Escoto 2, Comboy 0

Blackwater 88-Daquioag 20, Tolomia 17, Trollano 10, Golla 10, Canaleta 8, Dennison 7, Salem 6, Escoto 5, Gabriel 3, Sumang 2, Shaw 0, Magat 0

Quarterscores: 20-27, 41-41, 66-59, 84-84, 90-88

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