New PBA 3-point record holder Lassiter named Player of the Week

MANILA, Philippines – Marcio Lassiter on Sunday made history by becoming the record holder for most 3-pointers made in PBA history when he buried six threes in San Miguel’s rout over Barangay Ginebra.

The 37-year-old Lassiter is now at No. 1 after Sunday’s game with 1,254, surpassing Jimmy Alapag, who had 1,250 in his career, after he made his second three in the first quarter of the Beermen’s 131-82 lopsided win over the Gin Kings.

Aside from setting the new PBA record, Lassiter also captured the Pilipinas Live-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week after regaining his true form to average 17 points and shoot 15-of-27 from threes for the period of September 10-15.

It was actually a slow start to the conference for Lassiter after he got food poisoning that got him ill during San Miguel’s opening game of the season against Phoenix last August 21, forcing him to miss the first two games of the team.

“As soon as I got sick, I wanted to be there for my teammates. But when you lose like 12 pounds, it’s kinda hard to get back to it and regain my strength,” Lassiter said.

“I didn’t have the legs. I was really feeling it. I was trying not to put pressure on myself because I knew part of it is I just wasn’t there yet strength-wise. Thankful for coach Jorge for trusting in me and I knew I had to back it up and just keep putting the hard work in,” he added.

Lassiter was back to his shooting ways last week.

On Wednesday, Lassiter also topped Allan Caidic to go up at second after making four in their 119-114 win over NLEX, then moved to two threes shy of tying Alapag by converting five in their 139-127 victory over Phoenix last Friday.

On setting the record in the first quarter against Ginebra, Lassiter said: “I’m just happy to get it over with so that I can really focus on the game because we have a big assignment against Ginebra. I’m just kinda happy that it is here. A lot of fans witnessed it. I’m happy for them.”

“I’m truly honored and blessed to be in this position. Words can’t describe how I feel. I’m overwhelmed with a lot of emotions right now,” said Lassiter, who edged the likes of Schonny Winston of Converge and teammates CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo for the plum handed by reporters from broadsheets, tabloids, and online platforms covering the PBA beat.