By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA — San Miguel Beer import Charles Rhodes bucked early foul trouble to lead his team to a masterful 111-98 victory over the defending champions Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Rhodes led all scorers with 26 points, 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter, despite riding the bench for extended minutes due to foul trouble.
Gabby Espinas came off the bench to lead SMB’s locals with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also collected eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals in just 28 minutes.
Five other Beermen scored in double digits with Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo scoring 14 markers. Arwind Santos added 13 while Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross chipped in 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
The Beermen shot a scorching 52 percent (43-of-82) from the field en route to their fifth straight victory.
The Painters failed to reprise their astounding victory over Phoenix last time out when they overhauled a late 17-point deficit for the win.
Against the Beermen, the Painters fell into a 22-point hole, which proved too steep to stop them from falling to their third loss in seven games.
Import Shawn Taggart led ROS with 24 points and 10 boards, but committed seven turnovers in 38 minutes. Maverick Ahanmisi and Jeff Chan contributed 16 points apiece while James Yap and Jericho Cruz added 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
Star 96, Blackwater 90
The Star Hotshots weathered an onslaught of three-point bombs from KG Canaleta to score a come-from-behind victory over the Blackwater Elite, 96-90.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Hotshots as they improved to a 5-2 win-loss card.
Blackwater suffered a second straight setback and sixth overall against a single win. The loss came despite the heroics of Canaleta who led the Elite with 27 points, including 7 of 12 from beyond the three-point arc.
Import Tony Mitchell paced the Hotshots with 17 points and 15 rebounds despite arriving late for the game due to traffic and fouling out for a second straight game.
Paul Lee led Star’s locals with 15 points. Rookie Jio Jalalon added 13 while Allein Maliksi and Justin Melton chipped in 10 apiece.
Blackwater led for most parts of the game, taking as much as a 68-59 lead in the third quarter behind the hot hands of Canaleta.
But the Hotshots came charging back in the final quarter with an 11-2 run, wiping out a five-point deficit and taking a 76-72 lead.
Canaleta couldn’t sustain his fiery form in the endgame and despite another herculean job for import Greg Smith, the Elite went down in defeat. Smith finished with 22 points and a whopping 29 rebounds that all turned out zilch in the end.
Games Sunday: GlobalPort Batang Pier (1-5) vs. Mahindra Floodbuster (1-6) and Barangay Ginebra Kings (3-1) vs. TNT KaTropa Texters (5-1).
