Petron Blaze nips San Mig
ELIJAH Millsap came up with a solid performance and powered Petron Blaze to an 89-83 victory over San Mig Coffee and the solo lead in the PBA Governors’ Cup yesterday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Millsap fired 31 points, grabbed 16 boards, dished off six assists and also had six steals as he anchored the Boosters strong finish for their fourth win in five games.
San Mig Coffee dropped to 1-3 after the close battle, where both teams took turns at the lead.
“I think our mindset was just to protect our spot in the top of the rankings,” said Petron coach Gee Abanilla. “It was very important for us to maintain our place in the Top 4.”
Earlier, Rain or Shine checked a two-game slide by dismantling Air21, 109-95, after getting 39 points from Arizona Reid and a lot of leadership from the returning Paul Lee.
Reid dropped 12 of his total inside the final five minutes, and Lee, who sat out the last game because of an ankle sprain, added 19 as the Elasto Painters rose to 3-2 and got back in the upper half of the standings.
The loss, the Express’ third straight, pushed Air21 deeper in the cellar with a 1-4 card.
Meanwhile, Globalport tries to achieve a franchise-best start today when the Batang Pier, who are at 2-1, slug it out with Talk ‘N Text at 4:15 p.m. also at Mall of Asia Arena.
Alaska, on the other hand, shoots for a second straight win at 6:30 p.m. against Barangay Ginebra which will be without Japeth Aguilar.
Aguilar will be out for at least a month after suffering an MCL tear after a bad fall Friday.
The scores:
First Game
RAIN OR SHINE 109—Reid 39, Lee 19, Araña 14, Belga 9, Norwood 7,Chan 7, Cruz 4, Quiñahan 4, Matias 2, Tang 2, Ibañes 2, Tiu 0, Rodriguez 0.
AIR21 95—Canaleta 25, Cortez 21, Graham 18, Manuel 13, Isip 10, Sharma 5, Sena 2, Custodio 1, Omolon 0, Arboleda 0.
Quarters: 26-21, 52-47, 80-72, 109-95
Second Game
PETRON 89—Millsap 31, Lutz 10, Tubid 10, Fajardo 8, Cabagnot 8, Santos 7, Lassiter 6, Lanete 5, Kramer 4.
SAN MIG 83—Blakely 25, Yap 14, Maliksi 11, Simon 10, Mallari 7, Devance 5, Pingris 5, Reavis 4, De Ocampo 2, Barroca 0.
Quarters: 23-27, 46-47, 66-65, 89-83
