Williams saves day for SMB

MANILA, Philippines - Reggie Williams bungled two insurance free throws  in the closing seconds but quickly redeemed himself with a tough defensive job on the ensuing play to preserve a thrilling 92-90 win by San Miguel Beer over San Mig Coffee in the PBA PLDT Home Telpad Governors Cup at the Mall of Asia in Pasay last night.

After muffing two charities with 5.6 ticks left, Williams hurried to play defense, stripping Marqus Blakely off the crucial possession that denied the Mixers a shot at stealing the game or forcing overtime.

As Williams dribbled away the closing seconds, the Beermen and their SMB gallery whooped it up in a celebration of their second straight victory.

San Miguel Beer moved up to fourth place at 2-1 while relegating San Mig Coffee to joint fifth with Alaska Milk at 1-1.

Junmar Fajardo delivered another solid double-double game with 18 points and 18 rebounds while Chris Ross came through with numerous big plays at the finish as the Beermen bucked the early ouster of Marcio Lassiter due to an injury.

Earlier, Rain or Shine, rediscovering its competitive form, battered Globalport, 119-97, to break into the win-column in the season-ending tourney.

The Elasto Painters hit their strides towards the end of the first half and got going in the last two quarters en route to a first win after two straight losses.

AZ Reid fired away a personal conference high of 30 points and added 13 rebounds and eight assists with four RoS locals contributing double-digit outputs as the E-Painters snapped a losing skein dating back to their Commissioner’s Cup semifinal showdown with the Talk n Text Tropang Texters.