Marcio Lassiter buried a corner three-pointer with 3.8 seconds left as San Miguel ousted Alaska, 101-100, on Wednesday in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
SMB vs Alaska recap
Lassiter’s three-pointer off a timeout allowed the Beermen to end the eliminations on a 7-4 win-loss record and secure a place in one of the two best-of-three quarterfinal series as the No. 4 seed.
His game-winner came just moments after Abu Tratter appeared to have scored the game-winner for Alaska, pulling up from near the free-throw line and hitting the jumper to make it 100-98, with 19.7 seconds left.
But the Beermen ran a well-executed play in the final possession that ended with Lassiter open in the deep left corner as the clock went down to its final seconds.
Without a timeout, Maverick Ahanmisi was unable to come up with a shot in the game's final play as the Aces slumped out of the playoff race.
“What we want to have today is a ‘W’ because it’s better to get into the quarterfinals with a momentum by winning against Alaska,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.
The Beermen had to earn the win, their early 15-point lead in the first quarter fizzling quickly with the Aces even grabbing a 47-43 advantage in the first half.
San Miguel even had a 96-87 lead with five minutes remaining only for Alaska to come back and tie it at 98 on a Jeron Teng jumper with 1:03 left, and Tratter hitting a jumper from the foul line for the lead.
CJ Perez finished with 20 points, six rebounds, and three assists, one of which that led to the game-winner where he opted to pass to an open Lassiter at the corner.
“We expect Alaska to go all out because this is one of their two chances to get into the playoffs. In our case, we want to win because we lost our last game. We don’t want that to be a habit,” said Austria.
June Mar Fajardo had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Ross had 17 points. Lassiter had 13 points on 2 of 4 from threes including that game-winner.
Alaska fell to 3-7 and is now out of contention for the quarterfinals, but will play the spoilers’ role when it faces NorthPort on Thursday. The result of that game could also have an impact on the campaign of Barangay Ginebra, which plays Meralco in the first match of the doubleheader.
Tratter scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Aces in a losing cause.
The scores:
San Miguel 101 – Perez 20, Fajardo 17, Ross 17, Tautuaa 15, Lassiter 13, Pessumal 9, Santos 7, Zamar 3, Gamalinda 0.
Alaska 100 – Tratter 24, Brondial 17, Herndon 15, Casio 11, Teng 9, DiGregorio 9, Ahanmisi 5, Adamos 3, Banal 3, Ilagan 2, Stockton 2.
Quarters: 33-18; 43-47; 75-77; 101-100.