Beermen upstage Energy, keep lead

MANILA, Philippines - With a sore calf and thigh, Arwind Santos still found a way to salvage a tough 106-105 squeaker of a win for San Miguel Beer over Barako Bull and send the Beermen to the threshold of the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup playoffs last night at the Ynares Sports Center.

In the right place at the right time, Santos picked up the loose ball on a missed jumper by Marcio Lassiter then hit the winning shot right before the buzzer as the Beermen survived the Energy’s tough stand anchored on a franchise two-year best 17 three-pointers.

Beating out the Energy in a fierce shootout on Santos’ heroics, the Beermen closed in on the post-elims play as they regained the solo lead with a 5-1 win-loss record.

“Arwind has a problem with his calf and thigh. Before the game, he asked me to manage his time. I’m happy to see Arwind still bailing us out,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

“From the start, I sensed we’re in for a long night seeing the body language of our team and Barako Bull’s. Parang kampanteng-kampante kami,” Austria also said. “If we came out with the same intensity that we showed against Ginebra (last week), we would have no problem.”

Finding their gunners who delivered, the Energy dragged the Beermen to a battle marked by 10 deadlocks and 19 lead changes.

As RR Garcia drained the last of their 17 treys, the Energy led for the last time at 105-104 with time down to 10 seconds.

But the Beermen won’t be denied, thanks also, for a big part, to another monstrous game by Junmar Fajardo (28 points and 20 rebounds).

Ronald Tubid (16 points), Santos (15), Alex Cabagnot (12), Lassiter (11) and Gabby Espinas (11) helped put in the buckets for the Beermen.

Drawing needed lift from its new recruits in the crunch, Barangay Ginebra made it two in a row and moved up to joint seventh with an 80-76 win over the fierce-fighting Mahindra side in the nightcap.

Jervy Cruz and Joe Devance took charge as the Gin Kings fought back from an eight-point deficit and went on to follow up an 89-64 win over the Meralco Bolts Tuesday.

“We got a big lift from Joe, Jervy and Scottie (Thompson). You don’t win all the time with your star players. We got good smarts from the bench and it really helped,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.