MANILA — The San Miguel Beermen rolled to their third straight victory, repulsing the Star Hotshots, 103-97, in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Sunday night. The Beermen led by as many as 19 points but had to fight hard in the endgame to fend off a furious Star onslaught. Import Charles Rhodes showed tremendous firepower, leading the Beermen with 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting, to go along with 10 rebounds. Chris Ross was SMB's top local scorer with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. His layup with 22 seconds gave his team a six-point lead, dashing Star's comeback hopes. Star's Paul Lee earlier nailed a three-pointer that cut SMB's lead to just four points, 99-95, with about a minute left. Marcio Lassiter added 16 markers while Arwind Santos and June Mar Fajardo chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively. The Hotshots absorbed a second straight loss after a 4-0 start. Their first loss was inflicted last week by another sister team, the Barangay Ginebra Kings. Import Tony Mitchell led Star with 22 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, and one steal before fouling out in the final minutes of the game. Ian Sangalang led Star's locals with 18 markers. Lee added 16 points whole Allein Maliksi and Mark Barroca contributed 11 and 10, respectively. Meralco 102, Blackwater 91 The Meralco Bolts whipped up a huge storm in the payoff period to blow past the Blackwater Elite, 102-91, after trailing for most parts of the game. Down by eight points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bolts unleashed a 30-11 run to turn the game around and pull away to their second straight victory and sixth in seven games. The Bolts thus assured themselves of at least a tie for one of the eight spots in the quarterfinals after finishing second to last and getting an early exit in the last conference. Jared Dillinger, Alex Stepheson and Kelly Nabong led Meralco's fiery comeback in the final quarter. Dillinger led all scorers with 21 points, including three triples, the last one giving Meralco a 100-88 lead with 49 ticks left. Stepheson tallied 18 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, and two steals in 38 minutes. Nabong scored a personal conference-high 13 points, 11 of them in the fourth period. He also grabbed nine rebounds in just 22 minutes. Chris Newsome and Baser Amer added 14 and 12, respectively. Import Greg Smith paced Blackwater with 19 points, 14 boards, seven assists, three steals, and three blocks in 43 minutes that just went down the drain as the Elite suffered their fifth loss in six games. Mike Digregorio added 16 points and KG Canaleta chipped in 14, his best output since joining Blackwater. Games Wednesday: San Miguel Beer vs. Mahindra Floodbuster and NLEX Road Warriors vs. Barangay Ginebra Kings.
