MANILA – San Miguel Beermen banked on its towering frontline to dominate Alaska Aces 92-79 in Game 1 of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinals on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
June Mar Fajardo led Beermen with 17 points. Renaldo Balkman had double-double 13 points and 11 rebounds while Arwind Santos, Kelly Nabong and Christian Standhardinger posted 12, 11 and 9 points, respectively.
The defending champion also drew strength from its backcourt with Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter firing 15 and 12 points, respectively, to take a 1-0 advantage in the series.
Aces was slightly ahead 18-17 in the first quarter and a tight exchange ensued until a triple from Nabong and a 3-point play from Balkman gave Beermen a 25-21 edge. Aces reduced the lead to 1 on a triple by Simon Enciso.
Beermen started strong in the second quarter for a 34-24 lead on consecutive points from Standhardinger. Aces tried to catch up 32-34 but Beermen pulled away again with shots from Fajardo and Balkman for a 52-41 halftime lead.
San Miguel continued its run in the third and had its largest lead in the match 59-41 on an inside shot from Fajardo. Aces countered with its own run, cutting the deficit 65-75 heading into the fourth.
Beermen created distance at the onset of the fourth quarter for an 84-71 lead after a triple by Marcio Lassiter. Aces rallied to within 10 points but shots from Fajardo and Santos sealed the win for San Miguel.
Diamon Simpson finished with double-double 31 points and 24 rebounds for Aces. Best Player of the Conference award frontrunner Vic Manuel was held to just 16 points./PN
