Barroca keys gritty San Mig Coffee’s last-gasp win over Ginebra

GINEBRA’S Greg Slaughter (right) reaches in as San Mig’s Yancy De Ocampo (center) fumbles a pass underneath in last night’s thrilling Game 1 of their semifinal series at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / PBA

MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee won out over Barangay Ginebra in a game of spurts last night, with Marc Barroca draining the marginal basket in an 85-83 victory that gave the Mixers a 1-0 lead in their PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup semifinal series at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Barroca hit a jumper under heavy pressure—his only basket for the night—with 11.6 seconds remaining as the Mixers scored four points inside the final 32.2 seconds to snatch the win right under the Gin Kings’ noses.

Game 2 of this series, the winner of which will face the survivor of the Rain or Shine-Petron Blaze pairing which the Elasto Painters lead, 1-0, is slated Friday, also at the Smart Araneta Coliseum

LA Tenorio hit back-to-back wide-open layups in a 25-second span that actually gave the Gin Kings an 83-81 lead heading into the final 35.8 seconds, before the Mixers found a way to squeeze in those two buckets, the first coming from Joe Devance for 83-all.

“It can’t get any better than that,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone, looking for his first all-Filipino title since leaving Alaska.

“There’s no feeling of comfort after winning Game 1, but it does give you an opportunity to dictate the series.”

San Mig actually came back from eight points down at the start of the fourth period to take an 80-75 lead after back-to-back three-point shots by Yancy De Ocampo and rookie Justin Melton.

But the Kings got back into the game just as quickly, with Tenorio feeding Mark Caguioa two straight times that put the game in the balance heading into the final two minutes.

After that Devance basket, Ginebra had the chance to shatter the 83-all tie before the San Mig defense clicked.

Coming off a timeout, the Mixers forced Mac Baracael to call for another stoppage after he failed to get the inbounds pass in.

And in their second stab at the potential game-winning play, Devance tapped the inbounds pass that led to Barroca’s game-winner.

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine guns for a commanding 2-0 lead over Petron Blaze when they clash again Wednesday in their separate best-of-seven series, also at the Pasay venue.

Looking very impressive in their 103-95 Game 1 win Monday night, the Elasto Painters are the odds-on choices to make it two in a row over the Boosters in their 8 p.m. game.

But coach Yeng Guiao, a veteran of many wars against the San Miguel Corp. franchise, is still bracing for a hard grind, no matter how authoritative the series-opening win looked.

“Petron is a powerhouse team,” Guiao said two nights ago. “All we did was take a 1-0 lead. We are ready to go seven games if need be.”

The scores:

SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE 85—Devance 20, Simon 16, Pingris 10, De Ocampo 9, Sangalang 8, Melton 8, Barroca 5, Yap 5, Mallari 4, Reavis 0.

GINEBRA 83—Tenorio 16, Aguilar 14, Baracael 12, Slaughter 10, Ellis 9, Caguioa 8, Reyes 5, Helterbrand 4, Monfort 3, Mamaril 2.

Quarters: 26-28, 43-40, 57-65, 85-83