San Miguel rallied in the final quarter to score a 99-92 win over the Meralco Bolts after a lackluster performance by both teams in the fist quarter scoring 11 points apiece with four minutes left in the first quarter.
Meralco was leading in the first quarter at 19-17 and continued to pile up points up to the end of the second quarter with a lead of 11 big points at the end of the first half (46-35).
San Miguel’s Charles Rhodes struggled in the third quarter after failing to score on a number of free throws. The San Miguel import was sidelined for a while after being saddled with three fouls in the first half. Rhodes started to heat up in the third and fourth quarters as he scored a number of three point shots.
In the fourth quarter, San Miguel took the lead courtesy of Junmar Fajardo, who scored 24 points in the game followed by Cabagnot 23, Rhodes 22, Lassiter 16, Santos 12 and Ross 2.
Top scorers for Meralco were Stepheson 21, Dillinger 21, Amer 16, Newsome 9 and Nabong 8.
San Miguel coach Leo Austria admitted that his players were still rusty after a long layoff following their victory in the last PBA season.
“I never thought na we will be playing like this. Especially at the start dahil I’m expecting na mag-struggle kami dito sa simula. it’s very obvious na everybody was so rusty,” head coach Leo Austria said.
“But because of our experience in the championship, that second half dun dumating and we were able to take care of the situation,” he added.
In the first game of this Sunday’s double-header, Alaska beats Talk N Text 105-102.
