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| Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez celebrate after the former's game-winning three. Dennis Acosta |
QUEZON CITY—Marcio Lassiter hit what would be the winning basket as San Miguel got one back on Meralco in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals with a 95-94 win in Game 2 on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Lassiter forced Bong Quinto to commit on a block attempt and faked him to get some space for a left-wing three with 13.2 seconds left that capped a game-deciding 6-1 run within the final 22 seconds.
CJ Perez sparked the Beermen's endgame rally as he hit a quick corner three that cut the Bolts' lead down to one, 93-92.
Chris Banchero, who before the Perez triple scored on a clutch three to increase Meralco's lead to four, 93-89, with 25.6 seconds to go, only converted a split from the line with 20.2 seconds to play, upping the lead to two, 94-92, making Lassiter's triple afterward the go-ahead basket for SMB.
Banchero tried to become clutch again, but he missed a layup attempt, and Perez was fouled with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Knowing that Meralco cannot call a player timeout anymore due to the PBA's new rule on timeouts, Perez, who missed his first free throw, intentionally missed the second before forcing Quinto to a traveling violation that essentially sealed his team's fate.
Perez finished with a finals career-high 34 points with four rebounds, five assists, and five steals to lead the Beermen, who tied the best-of-seven series against the Bolts.
June Mar Fajardo added 17 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, and three blocks.
Cliff Hodge had a season-high 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting with nine rebounds and one assist for Meralco.
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