Barroca, San Mig Coffee hold off Ginebra in ‘must win’

Mark Barroca of San Mig (light) vs Japeth Aguilar of Ginebra (dark). PBA IMAGE by KC Cruz

MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee weathered a late storm by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to win, 83-79, in the 2014 PLDT myDSL Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Mark Barroca scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists and three steals to lead the Mixers, who picked up a crucial win as the playoffs near.

“Wish we could have played this well throughout the conference. I guess better late than never. We got some things going early in the basketball game and then we were able to build some confidence from that. We pulled out a win against a very, very good Ginebra team,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone after his team joined four other teams in fifth place with a 4-7 record.

“He’s been our steadiest player all conference long,” Cone said of his guard Barroca. “A lot of really good point guards out there and you can mention him among those.”

The Mixers blew an 18-point lead they built in the second quarter but recovered just in time with their defense shutting down the Kings to just a field goal in the final 3:49 of the game.

PJ Simon added 15 points for San Mig Coffee, which dealt Ginebra just its second defeat in 11 outings, while James Yap had 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Japeth Aguilar had 26 points for the Kings, who came out firing in the third quarter to take a 66-65 entering the final frame.

Aguilar had just two points in the last period though after going off for 11 in the third.

Greg Slaughter had 14 points but he and Aguilar combined for just 13 rebounds as the Mixers dominated the rebounding department, 62-39.

“That game gave us a little bit of life, gives us a lot of confidence, keeps us alive of making it to the top six and at the very worst at the top eight. We needed that to stay alive in this conference. It’s really a must win for us no doubt about it,” Cone said.

San Mig Coffee winds up its elimination round against Petron, defending champion Talk ‘N Text and Air21.