Lago saves Pals

Elmer Lago came up with the climatic ending in a duel that turned to be a fierce shootout from the longcourt between Talk N Text and San Miguel, firing a trey from the right wing with time down to 17 seconds as the Phone Pals squeaked past the Beermen, 82-81, last night in the Samsung PBA Governors Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Richie Frahm and Lamont Strothers figured in a virtual three-point shooting contest but Lago stole the thunder in the end with his own triple that proved to be the deciding basket.

San Miguel blew away a chance to finally end a hunt for a first win in the season with Strothers and new import partner Mario Bennett muffing three attempts in their final possession in the last 17 seconds of play. The Beermen now sport a 0-3 win-loss record.

Tank N Text notched a second straight win and caught Alaska Milk and Hapee R Team at third place on similar 2-1 cards.

"We stole one out there," said Talk N Text coach Bill Bayno, who whooped it up on the court and lept to hug import Gerald Honeycutt as they eventually escaped with the thriller of a victory.

"That’s gutsy performance from our end Mario Bennett came up with a huge performance and San Miguel played so well but we made the right adjustment in the second half,"’ Bayno added.

Bayno said the key adjustment was in rebounding as the Phone Pals limited the towering Bennett to only nine rebounds in the final half after getting 14 in the first 20 minutes of play. Bennett’s 23 total is the best by anybody in the tournament, thus, far.

Bennett got away with double-double numbers right at the end of the first half, having 14 rebounds and 20 points.

But the Phone pals, indeed, made the right adjustments as they departed from man-to-man to play two-three one defense in the second half to contain Bennett.

With Bennett damped down in the final half, Strothers and Dwight Lago took the cudgels for San Miguel, striking hard from the outside. But the sweet-shooting Frahm fought Strothers and Lago three-pointers for three-pointers and the Phone pals rallied from a 33-40 deficit at halftime.

Frahm finished with a season-best seven triples and a game-high total of 31 points. Strothers rifled in five treys and Lago added four. Frahm fired back-to-back triples to close out an 11-0 run that had Talk N Text surging ahead at 60-56.

But San Miguel refused to fold up and engaged Talk N Text in a seesaw battle until it gained a crack at wrapping up the game with Bennett earning a trip to the charity lane following a foul by Mark Telan with the team ahead by one at 80-79 with only 31 ticks left. Bennett split his free throws, though, giving Lago the chance to seize the spotlight in the contest.

The Beermen took a 40-33 lead at the half although coach Siot Tanquingcen had to take out Lamont Strothers for a few minutes in the second quarter after the import flared up when assessed an offensive foul on his drive to the basket against Norman Gonzales. Strothers thought he drew a blocking foul on Gonzales.

Meanwhile, the PBA makes its very first visit at the Caruncho Gym in Pasig today, featuring Sta. Lucia Realty versus Airfreight 2100/FedEx in a lone game starting at 6:05 p.m.