MANILA – San Miguel came alive late into overtime to beat Blackwater, 90-88, in their historic Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) game at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center on Tuesday.
The Beermen-Elite clash marked the first time in the PBA's 45-year history that a game has to be played in the morning.
However, both teams were still playing at lunchtime as Blackwater, which squandered a first quarter brilliance, came back in the fourth quarter to force an overtime.
The team even got to score the first four points of the extra period.
However, SMB pounced on late errors by Blackwater to score the next six points of overtime and eventually took the win.
The Elite have three chances to win it outright, but Mike Tolomia and Ron Dennison missed crucial layups and Don Trollano's jumper just rattled out of the rim.
Tolomia had one final crack at the basket with a desperation heave from half-court, but the shot only hit the rim as time expired.
Mo Tautuaa led the Beermen, who have now won four straight games to move up to 5-2, with 26 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, and two steals aside from his game-saving block.
Marcio Lassiter added 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Daquioag finished with 20 markers, five boards, three dimes, and one steal for Blackwater, but he too had six turnovers.
In the second game, Phoenix did not waver from Terrafirma's good start and broke loose for a 116-94 win.
Despite the Dyip taking a 26-23 lead after the first quarter, the Fuel Masters dropped 36 points in the second and held their rivals to just 16 in the third quarter to pull away for good.
Matt Wright exploded anew for Phoenix, scoring 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting, with four rebounds, six assists, and five steals, as he towed the team to its fifth win of the season against three losses.
Calvin Abueva, in his first start of the year, added a triple-double of 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists with three steals.
In his first game against his former Lyceum mentor Topex Robinson, CJ Perez dropped 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and one steal, but still could not lift Terrafirma out of the winless slump, which is now at six straight games.
Box Scores (1st game):
San Miguel 90-Tautuaa 26, Lassiter 12, Cabagnot 11, Pessumal 10, Santos 9, Ross 8, Gamalinda 5, Zamar 4, Escoto 2, Comboy 0
Blackwater 88-Daquioag 20, Tolomia 17, Trollano 10, Golla 10, Canaleta 8, Dennison 7, Salem 6, Escoto 5, Gabriel 3, Sumang 2, Shaw 0, Magat 0
Quarterscores: 20-27, 41-41, 66-59, 84-84, 90-88
Box Scores (2nd game):
Phoenix 116-Wright 33, Jazul 16, Perkins 14, Heruela 14, Abueva 12, Mallari 6, Intal 4, Garcia 3, Rios 2, Napoles 2, Gamboa 0
Terrafirma 94-Perez 32, Tiongson 15, Camson 11, Ramos 9, Adams 6, Gabayni 5, Cahilig 4, Balagasay 4, McCarthy 3, Batiller 3, Celda 2, Faundo 0, Agovida 0, Calvo 0, Khobuntin 0
Quarterscores: 23-26, 59-55, 86-71, 116-94 (PNA)
