PBA: San Miguel Beermen book twice-to-beat advantage after Air21 fourth quarter collapse

(Updated 10:21pm) Arwind Santos spurred the San Miguel Beermen to a fourth quarter comeback against the Air21 Express, 93-85, as they locked up the second seed in the 2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals on Friday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

San Miguel (7-2) has now won five of their last six games, while Air21 (3-6) is in a tailspin after losing three straight and six of their last seven.

The Beermen's quarterfinals matchup will be between the Express and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (4-4). San Miguel will face Rain or Shine if the latter loses to Ginebra (3-5) on Sunday, while the Express would slide to eighth and play Talk N' Text (9-0). Otherwise, the Beermen will play Air21 anew.

Kevin Jones led the team with 19 points, four rebounds and three blocks. Arwind Santos had 18 points, seven rebounds, and two steals. Marcio Lassiter added 17 points and two steals, while June Mar Fajardo notched 15 points, 11 boards and two blocks.

Santos was instrumental in chopping down an 18-point Express lead to start the fourth, scattering 10 points. The Beermen totaled just 35 markers in the first half but surpassed that in the final canto, tallying 38 against Air21's 13 in the payoff period.

After the game, assistant coach Todd Purves downplayed their team's struggles early in the game. "We really struggled shooting. I thought we had some great looks early in the game but we just missed shots we normally make," he said. "We just hung in there and continued to play defense until our shots started falling in the fourth quarter."

San Miguel was great early on at drawing fouls on the break, or finding Kevin Jones on the low block for layups. But despite their best efforts, the Express found ways to squeeze into the lane for tough makes. Wesley Witherspoon scored half of the Express' points in the frame as they trailed, 19-16.

Air21 cleaned up the offensive glass in the following period, which kept San Miguel from getting out on the break, and allowed them to score several second-chance points. EJ Camson led the way with 10 markers to give his team a 33-29 lead. The Express' strong on-ball pressure cramped San Miguel's offense and held them to six points in the last five minutes. It also allowed Air21 to keep a 39-35 lead after two quarters.

 

The Express led 11-6 on the offensive glass in the second, resulting in a 11-2 spread in second-chance points.

After the break, Air21 positioned Asi Taulava atop the key to draw June Mar Fajardo's shot-blocking out of the paint. The Express extended their lead with drives to the paint, plus a couple of jumpers from Taulava, to 53-43 midway through the quarter.

Marcio Lassiter drained two treys to bring the lead down to six, but San Miguel Beer couldn't contain their turnovers or the Express' layup lines. Witherspoon, Sean Anthony and Mac Cardona combined for the Express' last 18 points as they led 72-55 before the payoff period.

San Miguel's frontcourt roared back to life in the fourth as Fajardo and Arwind Santos' aggressive play, despite their free throw misses, helped the Beermen claw their way back into the game. This time San Miguel was the more aggressive team defensively, and they returned to their ways in transition. Santos and Jones then drained back-to-back treys to retake a 83-78 edge with under three minutes to play.

After suffering a 32-6 blast, Witherspoon drove and gave Air21 their fourth bucket in the quarter, 87-80. But Lassiter countered with a drive after a San Miguel timeout, making it a three-possession game with under a minute left to secure the comeback win.

The Beermen shot 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) in the fourth and 33-of-78 (42.3 percent) overall. In contrast the Express wilted in the last period, going 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) and 25-of-65 (38.5 percent) overall.

Wesley Witherspoon led all scorers with 27 points and seven rebounds. Sean Anthony added 14 points and eight rebounds, while rookie forward EJ Camson had 12 points and seven rebounds. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

San Miguel Beer 93 – Jones 19, Santos 18, Lassiter 17, Fajardo 15, Ross 9, Maierhofer 5, Tubid 4, Hubalde 4, Kramer 2, Lanete 0, Lutz 0

Air21 85 – Witherspoon 27, Anthony 14, Camson 12, Taulava 9, Yeo 7, Cardona 7, Poligrates 4, Villanueva 2, Ramos 2, Burtscher 1, Borboran 0

Quarter scoring: 19-16, 35-39, 55-72, 93-85