PBA semis: Meralco downs San Mig Coffee, series tied 1-1

Mark Cardona of Meralco (light) vs Mark Barroca (back) and Marqus Blakely of San Mig Coffee (dark). Nuki Sabio/PBA

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco outfought San Mig Coffee to a 73-69 decision and knot their best-of-five semifinals series at 1-1 in another grind-it-out game in the 38th PBA Governors’ Cup Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts, who never trailed, banked on their relentless defense to stymie the Mixers’ usually explosive offense.

“We’re perfectly prepared for a situation like this. It’s going to be a grind with both teams putting emphasis on defense we just have to find ways to score,” said Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio. “We limited them to 69 points and it speaks to the kind of desire we have in this game.”

Import Mario West scored 17 points, including an off-balanced shot, that gave Meralco a 72-68 cushion with 2:07 left.

San Mig Coffee had several chances to tie the game or pull closer down the stretch but Meralco just made scoring tough for the Mixers, who dug themselves a hole by coming out flat to start the game.

Marqus Blakely paced the Mixers with 24 points but half of his output came at the free throw line as the Bolts made a concerted effort to make the athletic import earn his points.

“Towards the end we needed stops and we made stops just to protect our lead. It’s just going to get harder from here on,” added Gregorio, whose team won despite attempting 16 fewer free throws and shooting worse from the field at just 30.6% as compared to San Mig Coffee’s 38.2%.

Game 3 will be on Friday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Veteran big man Reynel Hugnatan added 15 points and 12 rebounds apart from his effective defense on Blakely and Marc Pingris. Jared Dillinger also came away with a solid effort with 10 points, four assists and a key block on Yancy de Ocampo.

The Mixers’ total offensive output was their lowest this conference.