Santos nets 23 as Beermen buck Blackwater

The San Miguel Beermen bucked Blackwater’s 34-point opening quarter to take a 115-106 victory in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Arwind Santos led San Miguel weith 23 points and 15 rebounds off the bench, hitting a high 66 percent from the field. Marcio Lassiter paced the starters with 18 points, while Kelly Nabong tallied 13. Alex Cabagnot and Renaldo Balkman scored 12 apiece, while Brian Heruela and June Mar Fajardo rounded up the scorers in double figures with 10 each.

San Miguel led by as many as 24 at one point, after pummeling the Elite in the paint, 50-34. The Beermen were also able to lean on their reserves for 56 points, while their Elite counterparts were limited to 27.

Down by 11 early in the second quarter, San Miguel went on a 7-0 run to trim the lead to four half way, 43-39. Another 12-0 run shoved the Beermen ahead by seven at the 1:17 mark, 54-47, to take an advantage they held on to till the final buzzer.

Blackwater’s starters did most of the  damage, with Henry Walker scoring 26 points. Mike Digregorio had 19 to lead the locals, as Nard Pinto, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and Paul Zamar combined for 34. Ael Banal was the only elite player in double figures with 11 points in 13 minutes of play.

The Elite have just won one game in 11 outings for last place. San Miguel, meanwhile, improved to 6-4 right behind Rain or SHine (9-1), Alaska (7-3), TNT (7-3), and Meralco, (7-4). —R. Fopalan/LBG, GMA News