MANILA – San Miguel Beermen made a scorching start and blazed a trail as it cruised to a 134-109 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 2 of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Alex Cabagnot recovered from a subpar showing in Game 1 with 33 points, nine assists, four rebounds, and four steals for Beermen, which tied the championship series 1-1.
June Mar Fajardo added 25 markers while Renaldo Balkman, rookie Christian Standhardinger and Marcio Lassiter contributed 20 markers each for the defending champion.
“Kung obsessed ang kalaban noong Game 1, si Alex kanina, obsessed din. He could feel it – he wanted to win,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria.
San Miguel lost to Ginebra 99-127 in Game 1 on Friday.
Beermen surged to a 10-2 start with Cabagnot converting from outside to widen the lead to double figures. Kings rallied to within 8 but inside points from Balkman allowed Beermen to pull away again 34-23.
Beermen pulled to a 41-25 advantage early in the second with treys from Lassiter but Kings came to as close as 12 points before Beermen widened the gap anew 75-46 on conversions from Cabagnot.
San Miguel built its largest lead in the match 77-46 on a basket by Fajardo. Ginebra responded with a huge run to cut the deficit 65-85 but triples from Cabagnot and Lassiter and inside shots from Standhardinger and Balkman returned the lead to Beermen 119-95.
Kings made its last push in the final quarter to come to within 18 points but conversions from Cabagnot and Fajardo and a shot by Billy Mamaril pushed Beermen’s lead 134-107.
Justin Brownlee finished with 29 points, including five triples, while Earl Scottie Thompson and Joe Devance contributed 16 markers apiece for Kings./PN
***
SCORES
SAN MIGUEL 132 – Cabagnot 33, Fajardo 25, Lassiter 20, Standhardinger 20, Balkman 20, Santos 14, Mamaril 2, Ross 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Pessumal 0, Lanete 0, Vigil 0
GINEBRA 109 – Brownlee 29, Thompson 16, Devance 16, Slaughter 15, Mercado 11, Chan 4, Manuel 2, R. Aguilar 2, J. Aguilar 1, Ferrer 0, Caguioa 0, Cruz 0
QUARTERS – 34-23, 75-46, 99-79, 132-109
