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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The San Miguel Beermen opened its title-retention bid in the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup with a 96-88 win over the Star Hotshots on Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Reigning PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo led the way with double-double 25 points and 16 rebounds for the Beermen, which is aiming for its third consecutive All-Filipino Cup championship.
Alex Cabagnot chipped in 22 points and eight assists, while Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter contributed 17 and 11 points, respectively, for the Beermen, which remained the “team-to-beat” after keeping the core of its team.
“I have my confidence in them (Fajardo and Cabagnot) dahil sanay sila sa ganitong laro,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria. “I was worried din kasi malakas din ang Star.”
The Beermen jumped to an early 15-9 lead behind Fajardo and Cabagnot, but the Hotshots went on a run to take a 16-15 lead on a conversion by Peter June Simon. The Beermen then took a 26-22 edge behind Jay-R Reyes and Cabagnot.
Both teams went on a tight exchange early in the second frame before the Beermen surged to a 39-33 lead on back-to-back triples by Ilonggo Ronald Tubid. Conversions from Chris Ross and Fajardo widened Beermen’s lead to 51-43 at halftime.
The Hotshots made its move in the third frame to take a 69-64 lead ontriples by Paul Lee and Justin Melton. The Beermen tied the score several times before the Hotshots surged to a 79-75 edge at the end of the third quarter on a trey by Allein Maliksi.
The Hotshots went on to build its largest lead at 83-75 early in the final frame, but the Beermen went on a 15-0 scoring run behind Cabagnot and Fajardo to snatch the lead at 92-86.
The Hotshots made its last push behind Maliksi to come to within 92-88 but back-to-back conversions from Cabagnot and Santos sealed the victory for the defending champions.
Mark Barroca top-scored with 13 points, while Lee debuted with 12 points and nine turnovers for the Hotshots, which is playing for the first time without its franchise player James Yap./PN
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