SAN Miguel Beer walked the tightrope before beating Phoenix Super LPG, 108-104, to keep its quarterfinal hopes alive in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Best Player of the Game awardee Simon Enciso finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including six three-pointers, for the Beermen, who improved to 4-5 in a tie with TNT and Meralco
Enciso added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for San Miguel, which led by as many as 13 points but needed a strong finish to frustrate Phoenix.

Five other players, including import Devon Scott and CJ Perez, also scored in double figures.

Scott had 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in nearly 46 minutes.

Also stepping up for San Miguel are Perez (16), Marcio Lassiter (14), Mo Tautuaa (12) and Jericho Cruz (11).

“Every game now is a knockout game for us and it will play a big factor in our efforts to move up the standings,” said assistant coach Jorge Gallent, who called the shots for the team in the absence of Leo Austria.

(Austria was on health and safety protocols).

“So we have to play 48 minutes of ‘lSan Miguel basketball each time,” added Gallent.

Javee Mocon topscored for Phoenix with 18 points, followed by Tyler Tio and Encho Serrano with 14 apiece.

Import Kaleb Wesson had 10 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Overshadowed by San Miguel’s victory was Bay Area Dragons, who defeated erstwhile solo leader Magnolia Hotshots,, 95-89, for their ninth win in 11 matches

Myles Powell scattered 32 points and 11 rebounds and Gken Yang added 19 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Dragons, who led by as many as 17 points.

Songwei Zhu had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Nick Rakocevic paced the 8-2 Hotshots with 26 points and 19 rebounds.

The scores:

First game

San Miguel (108) – Enciso 20, Scott 18, Perez 16, Lassiter 14, Tautuaa 12, Cruz 11, Zamar 6, Manuel 4, Brondial 4, Herndon 3.
Phoenix (104) – Mocon 18, Serrano 14, Tio 14, Perkins 13, Anthony 13, Wesson 10, Rios 9, Jazul 9, Camacho 2, Pascual 2, Manganti 0.
Quarterscores: 32-30, 60-56, 78-72, 108-104.

Second game

Bay Area (95) – Powell 32, Tang 19, Zhu 15, Ju 8, Liu 8, Reid 6, Blankley 5, Lam 2, Zheng 0.
Magnolia (89)- Rakocevic 26, Jalalon 19, Lee 15, Sangalang 8, Ahanmisi 6, Abueva 4, Dela Rosa 3, Dionisio 3, Wong 3, Barroca 2, Reavis 0, Corpuz 0.
Quarterscores: 25-21, 47-44, 73-64, 95-89.