Beermen overpowers Mahindra, coach Pacquiao in Comm’s Cup
MANILA – Not e ven the presence of Mahindra Floodbuster playing coach Manny Pacquiao could stop the dominance of the San Miguel Beermen in the 2017 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Gracing the PBA court after a long absence, Pacquiao failed to inspire the Floodbuster as the Beermen cruised to a 109-80 victory on Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
The Beermen went on a quick start with hits from import Charles Rhodes, Chris Ross and Alex Cabagnot for an 11-4 lead. The Floodbuster quickly answered back with a run to come to within 15-12.
However, the Beermen had an immediate response on consecutive points by Cabagnot to make it 32- 16 before Rhodes had his own offensive outburst to widen the lead further to 55- 31 at halftime.
The Floodbuster showed some life early in the third f rame but Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter conspired for consecutive outside shots to build its largest lead at 95-61 on a triple by rookie Rashawn McCarthy.
Cabagnot finished with 26 points, i ncluding four three- point conversions, for the Beermen, which kept its unbeaten record with a 4- 0 win-loss slate.
Rhodes added double- double 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Lassiter and Gabby Espinas had 18 and 12 points, respectively, for the Beermen.
“Heading into the game, I told my players that we cannot relax against (Mahindra) since they have nothing to lose and everything to gain unlike us,” said Beermen head coach Leo Austria.
Reinforcement Keith Wright had double-double 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Gary David and Reden Celda had 13 markers apiece for the Floodbuster, which slipped to a 1-6 slate./