Beermen stay clean

DEZ Wells leads San Miguel to a 98-94 win over NLEX in Dubai.

San Miguel Beer stayed unbeaten after dealing NLEX its first loss, 98-94, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Friday night (Saturday Manila time) at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.

Import Dez Wells and Alex Cabagnot joined forces in the closing minute and put the Beermen for good, 95-94, with 23 seconds left.

Road Warriors’ Kiefer Ravena missed in the next play and Chris Ross split his free throws to make it 96-94 with 8.8 seconds remaining.

NLEX coach Yeng Guiao sued for a timeout but import Olu Ashaolu muffed the potential game-tying jumper, leading to Ross’ two free throws to seal the win.

Wells finished with a game-high 32 points while Cabagnot added 20 markers and June Mar Fajardo contributed 16 points and 18 rebounds for San Miguel, which improved its record to 3-0.

Ravena paced the Road Warriors with 20 points and eight assists while Ashaolu was held down to just 11 markers although he had 20 boards in the game as NLEX absorbed its first loss in four games.

Meanwhile, Meralco and Magnolia eye a share of the third spot as they battle separate foes today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts (2-1) face Phoenix (1-3) in the opener at 4:30 p.m. while the Hotshots (2-1) square off with the winless Alaska (0-4) in the second game at 6:45 p.m.