Meralco bowed to San Miguel late, 110-105 Wednesday in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Alex Cabagnot stringed five straight points to give the Beermen breathing room in the final two minutes, 106-99. Allen Durham willed the Bolts back before Jared Dillinger nailed a three with 10.5 seconds to close the gap to two, 108-106, but Arwind Santos calmly sank his freebies to put the game away in the clutch to snap the Bolts’ two-game winning run.
Mike Singletary made his San Miguel debut with 21 points and 20 rebounds, giving his side much reprieve with AZ Reid’s injury.
“I’m really expecting this kind of game because both teams want to get into the top four,” said coach Leo Austria. The multi-titled mentor also noted his team sustaining its hot streak from its past duel against Alaska.
“I give credit to all the players because they were able to carry over our momentum from our win over Alaska when we didn’t have an import,” he said.
Reigning back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo paced San Miguel with 24 markers and 10 boards. Arwind Santos also picked up the slack late, uncorking nine of his 19 points in the payoff period, including four freebies in the final 20.8 seconds to put the game away.
The Beermen improved to 6-2, to be side-by-side with Ginebra and Mahindra for joint second place.
Meralco, meanwhile, dropped to 5-4 despite the herculean effort of Allen Durham, who had 34 points in the loss.
Jimmy Alapag also got 14 markers, on a 4-of-8 shooting from threes, to go with five rebounds and three assists in the loss.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 110 – Fajardo 24, Singletary 21, Santos 19, Cabagnot 18, David 13, Ross 9, Lassiter 4, De Ocampo 2, Heruela 0, Reyes 0, Tubid 0.
MERALCO 106 – Durham 34, Alapag 14, Newsome 12, Faundo 10, Hodge 10, Nabong 10, Amer 7, Hugnatan 6, Dillinger 3, Buenafe 0, Uyloan 0.
Quarters: 25-24, 55-44, 81-79, 110-106.