Lassiter game-winner lifts San Mig past Kia

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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Saturday, February 24, 2018
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MANILA – Marcio Lassiter drained two crucial baskets in the endgame as San Miguel Beermen averted an upset from cellar-dwelling Kia Picanto with a 108-106 win in the 2017-2018 PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Trailing 103-106 with under two minutes left in the game, Lassiter drained a corner triple to tie the score at 106-all.

After a miss by Picanto, Lassiter converted a go-ahead layup from a pass by Chris Ross to surge the Beermen ahead at 108-106 with 0.08 ticks left.

Lassiter finished with 22 points, including five three-point conversions, while Arwind Santos led the way with double-double 27 points and 12 rebounds.

With the win, the Beermen remained on top with a 8-2 win-loss slate.

The Beermen were comfortably ahead by as much as 26 points midway in the match until the Picanto went on a huge fourth quarter run behind rookies Jan Jamon and Jon Jon Gabriel to take a 106-103 advantage.

“Yung basketball sense nila nandoon, pero kung hindi nangyari ‘yun, it could’ve been a disaster for us, and not a good sign heading into the playoffs,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria. “They thought it was a won game already. Everybody nag-relax.”

Glenn Khobuntin led the way with 15 points while Gabriel, Negrense Mark Yee and Rashawn McCarthy had 10 points each for the Picanto.

Kia ended its campaign with 1-10 win-loss card.

In the second game, Alaska Aces managed to find a way despite the absence of a number of key players to score a 99-95 victory over Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to end the elimination round with 7-4 win-loss slate.

Jvee Casio led the way with triple-double 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Marion Magat and Jeron Teng added 14 markers apiece for the Aces, which scored the win even without Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz and Chris Banchero.

Maverick Ahanmisi, meanwhile, finished with 23 points, while Negrense James Yap added 17 markers for the Painters, whose three-game winning run was snapped to slid down to 5-4 win-loss slate./PN
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