Leo Austria praises Lassiter, Perez in helping SMB overcome off shooting night vs. Magnolia

When it mattered most, San Miguel found its shooting just in time to dispose of Magnolia during their intense battle on Sunday at the Ynares Center Antipolo.

The Beermen struggled to connect from downtown all game long, except when veterans Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez buried three clutch triples in the last one minute and 51 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Before those three triples, the reigning champions were just 5-of-26 from the three-point area.

"Marcio, that's what he is, a three-point shooter. That's crucial, [hitting] a three-point shot twice and one from CJ, the killer one," San Miguel head coach Leo Austria sai after a narrow 85-78 win.

"But overall, hindi kami maka-basket and very poor 'yung shooting percentage namin. Usually, nasa 40 to 50 kami but tonight, it's 33. It's a good thing we shot a lot in the [final] stretch."

The victory allowed San Miguel to bounce back after tough outing not just in the PBA, but in the East Asia Super League as well.

San Miguel was coming off a two-game skid after losing to Eastern and Barangay Ginebra while it has recently bowed out of contention in the EASL after amassing a 0-4 record so far.

And the victory over the Hotshots, according to Austria, was what his players needed to restore their confidence as they head to the crucial stretch of the conference.

"It will be a good morale booster para sa amin because we're really looking [forward] to this game and I told them that this is the most crucial game for us because a loss will slide us down to the bottom four," Austria added.

"If we win, we will get in the top eight and that's enough for us to have some more confidence going into our game on Saturday against Meralco. It's really tough for us because we have been away for a while."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News