Yap, Barroca deliver as San Mig Coffee snaps Globalport

PBA IMAGE by KC Cruz

MANILA, Philippines — James Yap and Mark Barroca delivered the finishing punches as San Mig Coffee tripped Globalport, 83-80, Friday night in the 2013 PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Yap showed his old lethal form and nailed a go-ahead three with 25.1 seconds, while Barroca, who fed Yap the pass, later on picked off a pass from Justin Chua and capped it with game-sealing freebies.

“Thats why he’s James Yap. How many times has made that in his career. That was huge when we really needed it,” said head coach Tim Cone.

Yap finished with 15 points along with six rebounds and five assists after missing his sweet shooting touch early in the conference.

Yap’s triple came when the Batang Pier took the lead, 80-78, for the first time in the payoff period where the Mixers were, though only as many as five, were ahead.

Barroca, meanwhile, scored seven of his team-best 18 points in the fourth quarter while dishing out nine assists and notching three steals.

“I love Mark. He’s a joy to coach. He deserves all the minutes and numbers. He plays hard all the time,” Cone said of his star guard.

Struggling for the better part of the conference, the Mixers are on a two-game roll for an improved 3-5 record.

“You got to create something positive before you could get rolling. Hopefully it gets us into a positive mood,” said Cone, whose squad will still be practicing on Christmas.

The Batang Pier had their three-game win streak snapped and absorbed their third setback even after sorely outrebounding the Mixers, 70-51 (29-14 on offensive rebounds).

Sol Mercado led Globalport with 18 points, three rebounds and three assists, Jay Washington, whose basket gave them the lead with under a minute to play, added 15 points.

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