MANILA – Dezmine Wells scored on a go-ahead basket as the San Miguel Beermen escaped with a 90-89 victory over Magnolia Hotshots in the 2019 PBA Governor’s Cup last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Wells surged the Beermen ahead for good with a layup with 2:11 remaining in the game before tightening on the defensive end. Several attempts of the Hotshots to snatch the win away failed.
The Beermen rose to 4-0 win-loss slate.
Wells finished the match with 33 points, seven rebounds and five assists. June Mar Fajardo added double-double 16 points and 16 rebounds while Alex Cabagnot contributed 13 markers.
From a back-and-forth action in the opening half, the Beermen fell by as much as 10 points in the third period before mounting a run behind Wells, Christian Standhardinger and Von Pessumal for a 72-all score.
SMB opened the fourth with 81-76 edge on shots by Standhardinger and Fajardo.
Magnolia answered with a run for an 83-81 edge but Wells came up with timely hits for the Beermen to take a 90-89 advantage.
For the defending champions Hotshots which dropped to a 3-2 card, Romeo Travis tallied 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists before exiting late in the fourth with an injury. Paul Lee added 22 markers.
Meanwhile, Columbian Dyip surged to an early start before thwarting Blackwater Elite’s numerous rally attempts in the second half to pull off a 102-90 victory.
The Dyip set the tempo early in the game behind Jaymar Perez and Khapri Alston for a 28-18 edge.
Columbian maintained the edge early in the second but the Elite made late run to come to within 42-49 at the half.
The Columbians were still up 77-67 in the third when Blackwater made a rally to come to within single digit early in the fourth. However, consecutive triples from Reden Celda and Rashawn McCarthy gave the Dyip its largest lead at 15 points.
McCarthy finished with 25 points, including seven triples, while Perez and Alston added 24 markers each as the Dyip improved to 3-2.
Aaron Fuller had 26 points to lead the
Elite (1-3)./PN
