SAN Miguel Beer veteran gunner Marcio Lassiter found an open spot against NLEX in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Ninoy Aquino Stadium’s hardcourt last Wednesday night.
After receiving a pass from teammate Jericho Cruz at the left flank, he boomed in the three-pointer that sparked a big roar from the Beermen’s bench and the crowd.
Lassiter’s triple–his fourth of the duel and 1,243 overall–pushed him past the great Allan Caidic as No. 2 in the pro league’s all-time list of most treys made.
The 6-foot-2 Lassiter downplayed the milestone and insisted SMB’s 119-114 victory over the Road Warriors in Group B was what mattered.
“Coming in tonight, my expectation was to win. I try to keep my mind off it. At the same time, our team knows. I was thankful to coach for drawing great plays for me, as well as my teammates for finding me,” Lassiter said. “Just to be in this elite status is quite amazing.
“I’m just truly grateful and thankful. Most importantly, get the win. That’s what we needed to do tonight. It was a great team win tonight,” he added.
Lassiter, 37, only needs eight more trifectas to break the record held by another PBA legend–Jimmy Alapag, who totaled 1,250 threes in his career.
“You know, every game, I don’t think about it until you guys show it on the big screen in the game, then you can kinda feel it, kinda puts me in perspective in just how truly honored I am,” Lassiter said. “But yeah, I just try my best not to think about it every night. It’s a good thing that I’m always constantly just making the extra passes and knowing that the ball will find me, and tonight that’s what happened.
“A lot of great passes. I think Jericho was the one who probably found me for the record. But other than that, you know, it’s just one step at a time. I just try to do what’s needed. Coach expects a lot out of all of us and we gotta prove it to him. We just gotta be there for each other. Everyone just has to stick in there and continue playing well.”
The former Gilas Pilipinas standout picked fourth overall by the defunct Powerade Tigers franchise in 2011 wound up with 17 points, six rebounds, and two assists to backstop CJ Perez and reigning eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, who tallied 24 and 17 markers, respectively.
Import Sheldon Mac, fielded in for Jordan Adams, added 16 points while Don Trollano, Terrence Romeo, and Cruz had 16, 13, and 10 markers, respectively, as SMB scored a follow up to a 113-112 escape over Rain or Shine Thursday last week and hiked its mark to 4-2.
NLEX lost for the third time in a row and failed to recover from a 99-110 defeat to Blackwater a week ago for a 3-4 slate.
The Beermen also made up for a 102-108 overtime loss to the Road Warriors in Cagayan de Oro City last Aug. 31.
“I just told them in the second half that we just have to have pride playing our one-on-one defense so there won’t be any overhelping,” SMB coach Jorge Gallent said. “They did very well in the second half. There were mistakes, but it wasn’t as much as in the first half.”
