THE San Miguel Beermen trek back to the court today, facing the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters in the main game of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup action at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Made a winning debut in the midseason PBA tournament last Sunday against the Meralco Bolts, 99-92, Philippine Cup champion San Miguel is out to keep its good form as it goes for another run at a title.
Reigning league most valuable player June Mar Fajardo had a solid outing in their Commissioner’s Cup debut, scoring 24 points, on 11-of-18 shooting, and grabbing 12 rebounds.
He was ably backstopped by import Charles Rhodes, who had 22 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks while Alex Cabagnot had 23 points and nine assists.
Marcio Lassiter and Arwind Santos were the other Beermen who finished in double figures in scoring with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Coming off a long layoff, San Miguel coach Leo Austria said he was surprised with the way his team responded in their first game but nonetheless welcomed it.
“I didn’t think we would have this start as I was expecting our team to struggle, which we did in the first half. But they showed their experience and ability to adjust as the game wore on. They were able to handle the situation well,” Mr. Austria said in the postmatch press conference after their win over Meralco.
“I liked what I saw and I believe that we can still be better and I’m expecting the team to improve some more in our next games,” he added.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS
Also in the same boat as its opponent San Miguel and looking for back-to-back wins is Phoenix (2-2), which got back on the winning track, after losing two straight games previously, in a big way after beating the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 94-91, in an out-of-town game in Davao City last Saturday.
Import Jameel McKay has been leading the way for Phoenix with norms of 26.7 points, 19.7 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2 steals per game in 43 minutes on the floor.
Prized rookie and Gilas Pilipinas pool member Matthew Wright has been good for 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while Cyrus Baguio is chipping in 11 points and three assists per game.
The San Miguel-Phoenix game is set for 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, in the curtain-raiser at 4:15 p.m., the TNT KaTropa eye their third win in four matches, battling the still-winless NLEX Road Warriors (0-4).
TNT has won two straight after dropping its first game of the tournament while NLEX is once again off to a rough start for a second straight conference.
