Devon Scott and Vic Manuel finished what Marcio Lassiter had started as San Miguel Beer outgunned NLEX, 124-116, to snap its two-game slump in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday, Oct. 23.
The Beermen engaged the Road Warriors in a fiery scoring showdown with Lassiter anchoring SMB’s huge 45-point explosion in the opening frame with six triples although they had to lean on Manuel and Scott in the second half to keep the gritty NLEX at bay and pick up their second win in the conference.
Devon Scott dropped 10 of his 26 points while Manuel scattered 16 in the second half to finish with 22 points as SMB repulsed the repeated threats from NLEX which, on the other hand leaned, on another big game from import Earl Clark who erupted for 40 points – his second straight 40-point night after putting up 45 in the Road Warriors’ win over TNT Tropang Giga.
Lassiter, after starting the game waxing hot with 18 first quarter points, cooled down on the latter part to finish with 22 on 6-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc while CJ Perez wasn’t the same when he scored 29 against Converge last game although he still finished with 16 points.
Jericho Cruz added 15 while Mo Tautuaa chipped in 14.
SMB head coach Leo Austria was just relieved to finally break out of the slump after the injury to June Mar Fajardo and the import situation of the team.
“Well it's a matter of mindset for the players because it's really tough for us having a replacement import so there's a lot of adjustment and winning without June Mar. I keep on telling them na we have to fight because there's no more June Mar so we cannot dwell on him and that's what happened” said Austria.
“It's a matter of fighting, changing the mindset plus I think the import, because of 'yung sipag niya, he keeps on running up and down although he almost played the entire game. So it's enough to motivate the players because they know the import has a big role in any team naman eh,” he added.
Don Trollano and Justin Chua provided support to NLEX with 21 and 23 points, respectively, but were not enough as the Road Warriors fell to a 3-3 slate.