SAN Miguel Beer embraced a new mindset against NLEX last night — it must learn to hack it without prized center June Mar Fajardo and play beautiful music with new import Devon Scott.
Propped up by a fast start and a sustained attack, the Beermen carved out a 124-116 victory over the Road Warriors for their second win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Foremost among those who heeded SMB coach Leo Austria’s challenge to play with a sense of urgency was Scott, who shone with 26 points, to go with 10 rebounds, and seven assists.
Marcio Lassiter poured 18 of his 22 markers in the first quarter and had three boards and five dimes for the Beermen.
Vic Manuel and CJ Perez also added 22 and 16 points, respectively, while Jericho Cruz and Mo Tautuaa combined for 29 for SMB, which snapped a mini-two game slide, counting a sorry 102-106 loss to Converge three days ago and improved to 2-3.
The Road Warriors, coming off a 110-101 triumph over TNT last Wednesday, slipped to 3-3.
“It’s a matter of mindset for the players because it’s really tough for us to replace an import, there are really a lot of adjustments, and winning without June Mar (Fajardo). Although talagang iyong impact ni June Mar is really big for us because the morale is very low,” Austria said. “But I kept on telling them that we have to fight because there’s no more June Mar and you cannot dwell on that. That’s what happened.
“It’s a matter of changing the mindset and I think because of the import, because ang sipag niya, he keeps on running up and down and although he almost played the entire game, it’s enough to motivate the players,” he added.
Riding the hot hands of Lassiter and Scott’s steady play, the Beermen tasted a lead as much as 52-37 on a Robbie Herndon three-pointer with 8:59 remaining in the second canto.
SMB settled for a 66-57 advantage at the halfway mark and was still in command 95-90 heading into the final stanza.
NLEX last threatened at 109-112 on a triple by reinforcement Earl Clark in the last 3:53, but the Beermen held their ground the rest of the way.
Clark carried the fight for the Road Warriors with 40 points, 25 caroms, and five feeds, while Justin Chua had 23 markers.
Don Trollano, Matt Nieto, and Kevin Alas also contributed 21, 12 and 10 points, respectively for NLEX.
