San Mig Coffee forward Marc Pingris (middle) stretches to grab a rebound against Globalport’s Rabeh Al-Hussaini. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Sluggish for most part, San Mig Coffee turned to individual firepower to pull this one out.
With James Yap and Marc Pingris striking hard in the fourth period, the Mixers survived a huge Halloween scare from Globalport to post an 82-78 victory last night and grab a piece of second place in the PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Yap hit 11 straight points in the latter half of the payoff frame, capped by the go-ahead fallaway jumper over Mark Yee with 38.8 ticks left for 79-78 as the Mixers won a second straight outing for 4-2.
“We were forced to admit that we had a match going with them,” San Mig coach Tim Cone said after the Mixers rallied from a 15-point deficit. “There’s nothing easy in this league.
“You can’t just walk into a basketball court expecting to just show up and win,” he continued. “Right now, I wish we could be a little smoother, to move the ball better.”
In the second game, Sol Mercado had 22 points while Ronjay Buenafe and Mac Cardona had 16 each as Meralco moved to a share of second place with a 99-86 victory over Barako Bull.
The Bolts notched their fourth win in six outings to tie idle squads Alaska and Rain or Shine while the Energy dropped to 2-5.
While Pingris got the Mixers back early in the fourth quarter with 11 of his team-high 17 points, and Yap did the damage in the stretch, two-time MVP Willie Miller was doing the same for the Batang Pier, who dropped to 1-6 overall.
Miller finished with 19 points, eight in the third period where Globalport built a 47-32 lead, and 11 in the fourth, including two free throws that had the Batang Pier grabbing the lead for the last time at 78-77 with 50.7 seconds left.
And San Mig took the lead on Yap’s jumper, Miller missed a layup that paved the way for Mixer Marc Barroca going to the free throw line for a split off a duty foul by Rabeh Al-Hussaini, 80-78 with 13.2 seconds left.
“It’s still the breaks of the game for me,” Globalport coach Glenn Capacio told reporters later.
Pingris, aside from also plucking down 16 rebounds, was also assigned to put the cuffs on Miller in the stretch. He had some success, though Miller dusted him off in that drive-in play which he just failed to complete.
Barako Bull had another chance to knot the count at 80, but rookie Vic Manuel muffed a short stab under pressure in the dying seconds that again sent Barroca to the line for the final count
The scores:
First Game
SAN MIG COFFEE 82—Pingris 17, Yap 16, Simon 15, Barroca 11, Devance 11, De Ocampo 4, Ramos 2, Villanueva 2, Gonzales 2, Reavis 2.
GLOBALPORT 78—Miller 19, Manuel 17, Deutchman 7, Antonio 7, Mandani 6, Guevarra 6, Vanlandingham 5, Adducul 4, Vergara 3, Al-Hussaini 2, Yee 2, Cruz 0.
Quarters: 13-19, 30-38, 50-58, 82-78
Second Game
MERALCO 99—Mercado 22, Buenafe 16, Cardona 16, Hugnatan 12, Hodge 8, Salvacion 8, Borboran 6, Reyes 5, Artadi 4, Sharma 2, Bulawan 0.
BARAKO BULL 86—Urbiztondo 14, Kramer 14, Najorda 13, Villanueva 13, Yap 9, Tubid 7, Pennisi 7, Marcelo 3, Co 3, Alvarez 3, Anthony 2, Ballesteros 0.
Quarters: 19-21, 53-40, 78-59, 99-86