San Miguel claims first quarters seat in PH Cup

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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, January 8, 2017
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MANILA – The San Miguel Beermen continued its hot streak in the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup with a 118-93 domination of the Blackwater Elite on Friday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

June Mar Fajardo led the way with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the defending champion Beermen, which remained at solo first place in the standings with a 6-1 win-loss slate.

Gabriel Espinas chipped in a conference-high 22 points, while Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter had 14 points each for the Beermen, which hopes to continue its winning run against the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings tonight.

“It’s a good start to the year,” Beermen head coach Leo Austria said. “The players were so focused. It was a blessing in disguise that we couldn’t take the Blackwater for granted.”

After falling behind early in the game on inside hits by Elite forward Arthur Dela Cruz, the Beermen went on a huge run in the opening frame behind Cabagnot, Lassiter and Fajardo to build a 37-21 advantage.

The Beermen continued to pour it on in the second frame behind Espinas, Lassiter and Arwind Santos to build its largest lead of the match at 69-40 on four free throws by Fajardo.

The Elite then took advantage of the Beermen going to its reserve players as it trimmed the deficit to as low as 101-90, but the Beermen quickly answered back to widen the lead to 25 on six straight points by rookie Arnold Van Opstal.

Dela Cruz top-scored with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Raymond Aguilar added 15 markers for the Elite, which suffered its second straight defeat to slide down to a 4-4 win-loss slate./PN
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