DEVON Scott finished with a near triple-double as San Miguel Beer ended a two-game losing skid with a 124-116 win over NLEX in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Arena in Pasay City.

Scott came through with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in only his second game for Beermen since replacing Diamond Strong last week.

His efforts were more than enough as the Beermen improved to 2-3.

Marcio Lassiter added 22 points, including a near-flaeless 6-of-7 shooting from the three-point area, while Vic Manuel came off the bench to add 22 points for the Leo Austria-mentored Beermen.

CJ Perez contributed 16 points, Jericho Cruz had 15 points and Mo Tautuaa chipped in 14 points as the Beermen finally went to work together in the absence of MVP June Mar Fajardo.

Earl Clark had a monster performance of 40 points, 25 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in 46 minutes for NLEX, which dropped to 3-3.

Justin Chua and Don Trollano added 23 and 21 points, respectively. for the Road Warriors.

Kevin Alas also finished with double-digit score of 10 points for the Road Warriors of coach Frankie Lim.

San Miguel will return to the court against NorthPort on Oct. 26.

NLEX, on the other hand, will take a long break and will play against Converge on Nov. 5.

In the second game, Batangay Ginebra relied on import Justin Brownlee to bring down erstwhile unbeaten Magnolia, 103-97.

Brownlee finished with 26 points, including two pressure-packed free throws with 21.2 seconds left, and 12 rebounds to power the Gin Kings to their third win in five games.

Ginebra also got good offensive games from Jamie Malonzo (18 points), Scottie Thompson (14), Christian Stanhardinger (14) and Japeth Aguilar (13).

Paul Lee had 22 points and Nick Rakocevic had 21 points and 17 rebounds for Magnolia, which dropped to 5-1.

The scores:

First game

San Miguel (124) – Scott 26, Lassiter 22, Manuel 22, Perez 16, Cruz 15, Perez 14, Herndon 6, Ross 3, Enciso 0, Brondial 0.
NLEX (116) – Clark 40, Chua 23, Trollano 21, Nieto 12, Alas 10, Fonacier 3, Miranda 3, Varilla 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Rosales 0.
Quarterscores: 43-35, 66-57, 95-90, 124-116.

Second game

Ginebra (103)– Brownlee 26, Malonzo 18, Thompson 14, Standhardinger 14, J. Aguilar 13, Pringle 6, Tenorio 5, Gray 3, Mariano 3, Pessumal 1, Pinto 0.
Magnolia (97) – Lee 22, Rakocevic 21, Sangalang 13, Ahanmisi 11, Jalalon 11, Abueva 6, Barroca 5, Dionisio 3, Reavis 2, Dela Rosa 2, Wong 1.
Quarterscores: 20-24; 41-53; 73-83; 103-97.

Games Wednesday:

(Ynares Center)
3 p.m. — Phoenix vs. Rain or Shine
5:45 p.m. — San Miguel vs. NorthPort

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya