MANILA — In a game that will long be remembered, the San Miguel Beermen finally emerged the winner after battling the NLEX Road Warriors in triple overtime thriller, 131-127, on a rare Tuesday playdate of the PBA Commissioner's Cup. The imports of both squads — Al Thornton of NLEX and Tyler Wilkerson of SMB — exploded big time for a combined total of 127 points—69 for Thornton and 58 for Wilkerson. The Beermen thus bounced back from the drubbing they suffered at the hands of the Barangay Ginebra Kings Sunday, clinching a quarterfinal berth with their sixth win in nine games. They are now tied with idle Alaska Aces at second to third place in the team standings. The Road Warriors stumbled on their march to the playoffs as they fell into an even 5-5 win-loss card, good for solo seventh place, with one game left for them. Only the top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs. Thornton scored his 69 on 26-of-47 (55-percent) shooting, including 39 markers in the fourth quarter and three overtimes. He also grabbed 19 rebounds. For his part, Wilkerson, poured his 58 points on a 20-for-35 (57-percent) shooting clip. He scored 11 points in the extra period including back-to-back baskets in the third OT that gave San Miguel a 129-123 lead heading into the final stretch. SMB's Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo partly stole the limelight from the imports in the three overtime periods, with Cabagnot scoring 12 of his 20 points in the first two extensions and Fajardo stringing up seven straight points to start the third OT that gave the Beermen enough cushion to ensure victory. Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter added 15 and 11 points, respectively. Thornton forced the first extension with a long, desperation three-pointer from the right wing over two defenders that beat the regulation buzzer. The former NBA player could have won the game for NLEX in the second OT, but his slam dunk to break the deadlock came two-tenths of a second shy of beating the buzzer. With Thornton churning up most of the NLEX points, only two other Road Warriors scored in double digits—Sean Anthony with 24 and Asi Taulava with 13. Rain or Shine 116, GlobalPort 94 The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters whipped up a storm in the fourth quarter to clobber the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 116-94. The win secured a quarterfinals ticket for the Painters as they tied the Barangay Ginebra Kings at fourth to fifth spot, both with a 6-4 card. The also-rans Batang Pier suffered their eighth loss in 10 games and remained stuck at the bottom. Jeff Chan and Mo Charlo led ROS with 18 points apiece. Charlo also had 11 boards. Paul Lee added 12 markers while Jericho Cruz and Chris Tiu finished with 12 and 10, respectively. Shawn Taggart led GlobalPort with 32 points and 15 rebounds. Terrence Romeo added 19 points while Jonathan Uyloan had 12. Games Friday: Phoenix Fuel Masters (3-6) vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier (2-7) and Meralco Bolts (7-2) vs. Alaska Aces (6-3).
