Mark Barroca of San Mig Coffee (dark) vs Eric Camson of Air21 (light). Nuki Sabio/PBA
MANILA, Philippines – San Mig Coffee needed to fight off a pesky Air21 side to win, 67-60, in the 2014 PLDT myDSL Philippine Cup Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Yancy de Ocampo finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds while also giving counterpart Asi Taulava a hard time for the Mixers, who joined the Meralco Bolts and Barako Bull Energy in fifth place tie with identical 5-7 records.
“Any win at this point is a pretty win even we obviously didn’t play a pretty game. Ugly basketball but right now any win for us is beautiful. We really don’t care if we win ugly. Every game is a must win,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
PJ Simon had 20 points with James Yap sidelined due to back spasms and Mark Barroca scored all of his 11 points in the fourth quarter where the Mixers established their game.
The Express, who saw the door to their playoff hopes slam shut with a 3-10 record with just a game left, managed to remain in striking distance despite shooting just 28% from the field.
Niño Canaleta tallied a game-high 22 points, 17 in the second half, while Mac Cardona added 11 points for Air21, which was just staring at a 60-63 deficit with under 1:34 left after a basket by Bonbon Custodio.
Custodio though, sent Simon, who made two free throws to practically seal the game, 65-60, at the line with an ill-advised foul with still 28.2 ticks left.
The 40-year-old Taulava, who is having quite a conference, had trouble against the Mixers interior with de Ocampo and Marc Pingris manning the paint as he ended up with only five points on one-of-six shooting and nine rebounds.
“Good to see Yancy (de Ocampo) step up early in the game. He set the tone. That was crucial for us. The all-filipino really is his conference. We’re going to need him the rest of the way,” said Cone of his sweet-shooting big man.
San Mig winds up its elimination round with a pair of tough games against Petron Blaze and defending champion Talk ‘N Text on a back-to-back.
“We feel that if we can get into the top six, we can make noise. We can cause some problems. We got two really tough teams coming up in Petron and Talk ‘N Text.”
Both teams struggled offensively with the Mixers able to break past the 20-point mark only in the final frame while the Express, with one of their scorers Joseph Yeo held to just nine points on two-of-10 shooting from the floor, failing to notch a 20-point quarter.
Pingris and Barroca anchored San Mig Coffee’s defense while also hitting timely baskets.
The former Far Eastern U guard Barroca also had four steals and a block while Pingris, the National team mainstay, scored seven points, grabbed 12 rebounds and rejected a shot.