Beermen sail to first win on Davis’ fall

Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

3 p.m. – Globalport vs Blackwater

5:15 p.m. – Purefoods vs Ginebra

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer pounded on the ouster of Meralco import Josh Davis from a nasty fall in the second quarter and went on to wallop the Bolts, 102-86, for the Beermen’s first win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Xavier University Gym in Cagayan de Oro City last night.

Arizona Reid debuted as a SMB import with 29 points while Junmar Fajardo came through with 22 rebounds and 21 markers as the Beermen finally ended its hunt for the elusive first win after their Philippine Cup title run.

The count in the Petron Blaze-sponsored road game was tied at 30-all when Davis hit the floor hard, hips first, after accidentally being undercut by Fajardo five minutes into the second quarter.

The energetic Meralco import failed to return to the game, and the Beermen took advantage of the situation to snap out of a four-game slump.

Meanwhile, the Bolts suffered a first loss in five starts, allowing the Talk n Text Tropang Texters to gain a piece of the lead.

In a post play after a steal, Fajardo faked a shot, sending Davis up in the air then crashing hard down on the floor as he lost his balance when the SMB behemoth eventually went to the basket.

At the spur of the moment, Davis sprung back on his feet, appearing to attack Fajardo.

But as quickly as he got up, he went down again writhing in pain.

Then he was taken to their dugout in a stretcher.

He managed to return to their bench in the second half but was no longer able to return to play.

It became a highly charged game with Gary David and Chris Ross getting entangled down on the floor in a heated play in the fourth quarter.

David was called for a flagrant foul penalty one while Ross incurred a technical infraction for second motion.