STA. ROSA, Laguna - San Juan's early silencing of Laguna turned out to be enough as the latter made things interesting in the fourth quarter only to fall short and the former won on the road, 78-68, in their MPBL Saturday night game at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex here. Taking quick control of the game, the Knights raced to a lead as high as 27 points, 69-42, late in the third quarter. However, the Heroes responded with a 17-2 run spanning through the midway part of the fourth quarter that cut the lead down to 12, 71-59. Back-to-back baskets from Michael Calisaan seemed to have doused cold water on Laguna's endgame attack as San Juan's lead was stretched back to 16, 75-59, but the home team responded with five straight points to draw them to within just 11, 64-75, with 1:47 left. Judel Fuentes finally shut the door on the Heroes with the dagger three in the next play before the hosts scored the last four points of the game to keep the final margin respectable.
NLEX versus San Miguel Beer (PBA Images) MANILA - San Miguel took solo lead in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup after stopping NLEX, 100-92, on Friday at Ynares Center in Antipolo. The Beermen contained the Road Warriors after letting them explode in the first period, where the latter raced to a 33-25 lead. SMB slowly crippled NLEX in the next 36 minutes, outscoring them the rest of the way, 75-59, to eventually prevail. SMB coach Leo Austria admitted that his team underestimated the opponents so he reminded his players to turn to defense for the remainder of the match. "The last time I watched them against Terrafirma, I thought we can beat them because they scored 31 points in the first half, but earlier, they scored 53 points in the first half. That's why I told the team that we have to step up on our defense," Austria said after the game. CJ Perez led the 2-0 Beermen with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals, while Marcio La
Chris Newsome (Courtesy of PBA Image) MANILA - Chris Newsome stood tallest in Meralco's balanced attack to hold off No. 1 seed Magnolia in a do-or-die Game 5 to arrange another duel with rival Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors' Cup finals. The seasoned guard did it all for the Bolts, canning 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 2.5 steals in the last two games of the best-of-five semifinals which they won, 3-2. The Fil-Am guard thus emerged as the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week, the last for the season-ending conference. Newsome beat out Meralco teammate Allein Maliksi in close voting for the weekly honor being handed out by the men and women regularly covering the PBA beat. The 6-foot-2 combo guard settled for 11 points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals in Meralco's 112-93 loss in Game 4 before saving his best for last in the rubber match, 94-81. With the Bolts' season on the line, Newsome sizzled for 18 points including 11 in a t
MANILA - TNT took the last Top 4 incentive for the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinals after surviving a huge second half from NorthPort for a 106-101 overtime win in the final game of the elimination round at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Friday night. Despite blowing an 18-point lead, the Tropang Giga prevailed after the Batang Pier committed crucial errors late into the extension as the former got a twice-to-beat advantage in the next round as the third seed. TNT quickly went for the kill, opening a 53-35 cushion with a minute-and-a-half to play before halftime. But come the third period, NorthPort crawled back and even took a 73-72 lead at the end of the quarter. NorthPort outscored TNT, 34-18, in that period. The Tropang Giga recovered in the fourth quarter, even taking an 89-84 cushion with three-and-a-half minutes to play in regulation only for the Batang Pier to score six straight points to retake the lead, 90-89 with 1:49 left. Aaron Fuller eventually sent the
Meralco 109, Phoenix 90 (Graphics courtesy of PBA Facebook) MANILA - Meralco clinched a twice-to-beat advantage in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors' Cup quarterfinals on Friday after drubbing Phoenix, 109-90, in the penultimate game of the elimination round at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Bolts sizzled offensively in the odd-numbered quarters, but the turning point came in the third where it limited Phoenix to just 13 points to open an 88-68 lead entering the fourth. The Fuel Masters looked to pull a comeback after opening the final canto with an 8-0 run that cut the lead to 12, 88-76. But the Bolts responded with a 17-7 rally to increase the advantage to 22, 105-83, with 1:41 to go. "The win is really important because we lost our last three games, and of course when you're losing, your confidence takes a hit. So we really had to try to rebuild our confidence going into this game today knowing that we would have a twice-to-beat advan