San Miguel Beermen grabs fourth win with late charge vs Meralco

The San Miguel Beermen rallied from behind against the Meralco Bolts to register their fourth win, 89-82, in the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round on Wednesday.

Tied at 52 at the 5:56 mark of the third period, the Bolts made a 13-0 charge before Arwind Santos ended the Beermen’s drought with 1:33 left, 65-54. A Chris Ross trey ended the quarter, 69-60.

The Beermen made a comeback and took the lead, 83-75, past the halfway mark of the final frame. Aaron Black and Allein Maliksi trimmed the deficit, 83-80, but triples from Alex Cabagnot and Ross pulled off the win for the Beermen.

Mo Tautuaa led the Beermen 23 points and five rebounds, while Santos registered another double-double 17 markers and 11 boards.

With their third straight win, the Beermen are now at 4-2, and will play against Barangay Ginebra on Friday. Meralco, on the other hand, will try to bounce back against league leader TNT on Saturday.

The supposed 4 p.m. game between Magnolia and Blackwater has been postponed by the league, pending approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Disease.

Blackwater’s game last Sunday against Rain or Shine was also postponed following the PBA’s report on a COVID-19 positive player, which the league said turned out to be a negative case after undergoing antigen and RT-PCR testing.

Box scores:

SMB 89 -- Tautuaa 23, Santos 17, Cabagnot 13, Lassiter 12, Ross 12, Pessumal 4, Gamalinda 4, Escoto 2, Zamar 2, Mamaril 0.

Meralco 82 -- Amer 17, Hugnatan 15, Newsome 14, Hodge 7, Black 7, Quinto 6, Almazan 5, Maliksi 5, Jamito 4, Pinto 2, Jackson 0.

– RC, GMA News