MANILA – Marcio Lassiter hit a game-winning three-pointer as the San Miguel Beermen defeated the Alaska Aces, 101-100, on Wednesday night in the 2021 Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) Philippine Cup at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
After the Beermen’s 93-82 lead turned into a 98-100 deficit by Aces’ Abu Tratter jumper, Lassiter connected a triple with 3.8 seconds remaining to give the Beermen a 101-100 advantage.
Lassiter finished with 13 points, including two three-pointers, as the Beermen clinched the fourth seed with a 7-4 record entering the quarterfinals.
San Miguel was bannered by Jaymar Perez’s 20 points, while June Mar Fajardo and Chris Ross each added 17 points.
Tratter scored 24 points and nine rebounds, Rodney Brondial added a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Robbie Herndon and Jvee Casio fired 15 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Aces, which fell to 3-7.
The defeat was a heartbreaker for Alaska as it booted them out from the quarterfinals contention regardless of the outcome of their game against the NorthPort Batang Pier tonight.
In the first game, Meralco Bolts (8-2) survived a late rally by the NLEX Road Warriors (5-6) with a 104-101 victory and notched the second twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
With the Bolts comfortably ahead at 101-82 on a Kier John Quinto layup with seven minutes left, the Road Warriors went on a rampage to trim the deficit to 101-95.
Meralco extended its advantage to 103-95 on a Quinto hoop, but NLEX closed the gap to 103-101 on Calvin Oftana’s back-to-back three-pointers. Raymond Almazan’s split free throw then sealed the victory for the Bolts.
Allein Maliksi top-scored with 22 points, while Alvin Pasaol and Rey Mark Belo got 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Oftana tallied 34 points for the Road Warriors, who set a PBA rookie record with eight three-pointers./PN
