MANILA – San Miguel Beermen finally tasted victory in the 2019 Honda PBA Commissioner’s Cup via a 127-106 rout on import-less Blackwater Elite last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Charles Rhode tallied 32 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks.
Marcio Lassiter drained nine triples to finish with 29 markers while Alex Cabagnot had 16 points for the Beermen (1-2).
The Elite managed to keep in step with the Beermen early in the match and were down 24-29 before the latter pounded them in the second period on consecutive triples from Von Pessumal for a 62-47 halftime edge.
Early in the third, the Elite cut into the deficit but the Beermen answered back with conversions from Rhodes, Lassiter and Cabagnot for a 92-74 edge on a basket by Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser.
Blackwater made its last push and was able to trim the deficit to 83-92. However, the SMB managed to pull away for good with Lassiter converting five triples for its largest lead of 21.
For the Elite, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. had double-double 23 points and 13 rebounds while Michael Digregorio and Shej Roi Sumang had 18 and 17 markers, respectively.
Magnolia Hotshots battled back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to score a come-from-behind 98-88 victory over the NLEX Road Warriors to make it to the win-column.
Trailing by as much as 10 points in the third quarter, the Hotshots relied on inside hits by import James Anthony Farr and Ian Sangalang to turn things around in the final canto.
Farr finished the match with double-double 24 points and 21 rebounds, while Sangalang added 21 markers for the Hotshots (1-2).
Tony Mitchell had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Road Warriors (0-6)./PN
