By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Same, situation, same routine. Give the ball to Alex “The Crunchman” Cabagnot and get out of the way.
After missing almost one month during the PBA elimination games due to an injury, there’s no perfect timing than having The Crunchman back in the first game of the playoffs.
Down by a point after Robert Bolick’s logo clutch trey, San Miguel Beermen’s head coach Leo Austria went to the ever-reliable veteran in the crucial last five seconds of the game where he delivered after burying the game-winning fadeaway shot to give SMB the victory, 88-87, against the surging NorthPort Batang Pier in game one of the PBA quarterfinals.
It was Cabagnot’s first game back after nursing his injury and it’s as if he never left and showed no signs of rust as he operated quickly after coming in in the first quarter off a substitution.
After burying a veteran up-and-under move against the younger Nico Elorde of NorthPort, SMB continued to feed Cabagnot to regain his confidence and rhythm.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair in the first two quarters as Greg Slaughter and June Mar Fajardo had a classic mano a mano big man matchup down the block.
Aside from the big men clash in the post, both teams also displayed their firepower as the half-closed to a 44-43 SMB lead.
However, as the third quarter started, Cabagnot once again made it rain from downtown that helped SMB pull away with a double-digit lead.
As things were starting to get comfortable for the stacked SMB squad, the resiliency of the NorthPort boys led by Bolick helped them regain the lead, 87-86, courtesy of his long three-pointer with seven seconds left in the ball game.
Coach Austria then called for a timeout and designed a quick left elbow isolation play for Cabagnot which he sank, giving SMB a 1-0 lead in a best-of-three quarterfinals series.
Cabagnot was named as the Best Player of the Game with 20 huge points while Moala Tautuaa and CJ Perez chipped in with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Slaughter, Bolick, and NorthPort will have the chance to force a do-or-die game three if they win the next game of the series.
