Beermen stall Aces playoff entry

Sans Junemar Fajardo 

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Beer continued to be Alaska Milk’s spoiler as it foiled the Aces’ bid for an outright playoff entry with a 116-96 rout in the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

With JuneMar Fajardo on the bench, the Beermen struck hard from the outside, firing away 17 triples to highlight a masterful victory that got them within half game of the frontrunning Aces (5-2) and the Meralco Bolts (5-2).

Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot sizzled with 5-of-8 treys each, Tyler Wilkerson spiked a 32-point game with four triples while Marcio Lassiter added three conversions from the arc.

In the first game, even with virtually blurred vision, Jeff Chan hit the target as he went on a hot shooting spree in the crunch, powering Rain or Shine past Mahindra, 103-98, and into joint fourth place. 

Chan endured a lump under his left eye inflicted by Chito Jaime late in the third period, scoring all of his 18 points in the last 13 minutes of the game as the Elasto Painters pulled through in a tough grind, thus stretching their run to three games and catching up with the Barangay Ginebra Kings on identical 4-3 win-loss cards.

JR Quiñahan and Jericho Cruz also played vital roles as the E-Painters beat out the Enforcers in a tight seesawing game marked by the ejection of ROS coach Yeng Guiao in the second quarter on technical infractions.

Crucial errors by LA Revilla at endgame didn’t help as Mahindra reeled to a third straight loss and fourth in seven games in all.

“It’s not a pretty win. It wasn’t the way we wanted to play. Good thing Jeff Chan stepped up and we still came out with the win. It’s not really pretty but we take it,” said Guiao.

The ROS mentor was already gone when Chan and Cruz took charge, combining for 14 points in the third period and 20 in the fourth.

“I was upset late in the second half as I felt there was one bad call after another and I felt we’re losing our momentum with the calls being made,” said Guiao on his two technical fouls drawn towards the end of the first half.