LA Tenorio gets a big screen from Ginebra teammate Greg Slaughter after eluding Marc Pingris of San Mig Coffee in last night’s game. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Dishing out a high-quality effort against the best team thus far in the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup, San Mig Super Coffee won a battle of attrition against Barangay Ginebra yesterday to fan its flickering playoff hopes.
The Mixers survived the loss of an 18-point first-half lead and a 13-point bubble going into the third quarter last night before eking out an 83-79 decision of the Gin Kings before 20,596 screaming fans—the biggest-ever PBA crowd at Mall of Asia Arena.
“I wish we could play this way the whole conference,” San Mig coach Tim Cone told reporters after getting 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Marc Barroca. “But it’s better late than never.
“We’ve been beating ourselves up the last two weeks trying to put the negativity away.”
Barroca stood out in the low-scoring fourth quarter, shooting six points while helping the rest of the team shut down the high-octane Ginebra offense as San Mig improved slightly to 4-7.
Ginebra, which saw a six-game winning streak come to a halt, lost for just the second time in 11 games but still kept the No. 1 spot at 9-2, now just half a game ahead of Petron Blaze.
Rain or Shine also crept up in the standings, regaining solo third place earlier with a 98-87 win over a Sol Mercado-less Globalport crew.
Rookie Alex Nuyles had 16 points and four others tossed in 10 or better for coach Yeng Guiao, whose Elasto Painters won a fourth straight game to climb to 8-3, just a full game out of the lead and within half a game of the second-running Boosters.
Globalport has now lost four in a row and at 4-7, the Batang Pier are now tied for 5th to 9th spots with the Mixers, Barako Bull, Meralco and Alaska.
The Mixers still have to play Air21, Petron and defending champion Talk ‘N Text.
San Mig held the Gin Kings to three points inside the final 3:49 and to just 13 in the fourth quarter after Ginebra had dropped 51 points in the middle two quarters.
The Mixers took several 18-point leads, the last at 43-25 after a Peter June Simon triple with 3:22 left in the second period.
They closed out the half sitting on a 48-35 bulge only to allow 31 Ginebra points in the third quarter that even saw the Kings take just their second lead of the contest, 64-63, with 2:03 left after a charity by Greg Slaughter.
Ginebra was in the lead for the last time at 68-67 after a Jay-R Reyes layup before the San Mig defense clicked and held the Kings to just two points for the next four minutes for a 76-70 advantage.
The scores:
First Game
RAIN OR SHINE 98—Nuyles 16, Cruz 12, Tang 12, Chan 11, Tiu 10, Lee 9, Arana 8, Belga 5, Rodriguez 5, Norwood 5, Almazan 3, Quinahan 2, Ibanes 0.
GLOBALPORT 87—Washington 26, Salva 11, Romeo 10, Garcia 9, Hayes 7, Chua 5, Yee 4, Menk 4, Nabong 4, Salvador 3, Lingganay 2, Revilla 2, Ponferrada 0.
Quarters: 22-20, 46-38, 80-67, 98-87
Second Game
SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE 83—Barroca 16, Simon 15, Pingris 12, Yap 12, De Ocampo 9, Reavis 8, Devance 7, Sangalang 4, Mallari 0, Melton 0.
GINEBRA 79—Aguilar 26, Slaughter 14, Tenorio 13, Baracael 12, Ellis 9, Monfort 3, Reyes 2, Ababou 0, Helterbrand 0, Urbiztondo 0, Caguioa 0.
Quarters: 25-15, 48-35, 65-66, 83-79