Marcio Lassiter put an end to Alaska’s quarterfinal hopes by knocking down a three that gave San Miguel Beer a thrilling 101-100 victory Wednesday, Sept. 22 in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Lassiter came through in the clutch when he received an extra pass from an open CJ Perez from the elbow before hitting the winning triple from the left corner with 3.8 seconds remaining.
Alaska tried to win it with no timeouts left but Maverick Ahanmisi was swiped by Chris Ross at midcourt before the buzzer sounded.
It was a dramatic win in a no-bearing match for SMB, which was already assured of playing a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
The Beermen finished fourth in the elims at 7-4 with the victory and could face the NorthPort Batang Pier or Rain or Shine Elasto Painters depending on the results of the final playdate of the eliminations on the following day.
“What we want today is to win against Alaska so we could have momentum going into the quarterfinals,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
Perez finished with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals to lead the Beermen while four others scored in double figures, namely Chris Ross, June Mar Fajardo, Mo Tautuaa and Lassiter.
Alaska, which took the lead at 100-98 on Abu Tratter’s jumper with 19 seconds left prior to Lassiter’s three suffered its third straight loss to drop out of the playoff race with a 3-7 record.
The Aces hold an inferior quotient even if they end up in a logjam for No. 8 with three others, namely Phoenix Super LPG, Terrafirma and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Alaska wraps up its campaign the next day opposite NorthPort.
The contest had eight ties and 11 lead changes as Alaska came back from being down 23-8 past the midway point of the opening period.
Tratter finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 101 — Perez 20, Ross 17, Fajardo 17, Tautuaa 15, Lassiter 13, Pessumal 9, Santos 7, Zamar 3, Gamalinda 0.
ALASKA 100 — Tratter 24, Brondial 17, Herndon 15, Casio 11, DiGregorio 9, Teng 9, Ahanmisi 5, Banal 3, Adamos 3, Ilagan 2, Stockton 2.
Quarters: 33-19, 43-47, 75-77, 101-100.