MIXERS BEAT ACES IN WILD, WOOLY GAME
Coach Tim Cone stayed perfect versus his former team.
Denzel Bowles churned out a giant double-double game with 30 points and 23 rebounds and Marc Pingris came through in the clutch as San Mig Coffee withstood frontrunner Alaska Milk in a furious battle, grinding out an 84-83 win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday night.
The Aces had a chance to finally pull one over their former coach, but Calvin Abueva missed on a drive then Cyrus Baguio muffed a three-pointer inside the last 12 seconds.
The Mixers barely pulled through, improving Cone’s record to 8-0 against the Aces.
“It doesn’t get more exciting than that on a Saturday night,” said Cone of their escape act allowing San Mig Coffee to go back to .500 mark at 5-5.
“It was a great battle. Both teams played desperate tonight. Cyrus hitting that shot in the end and I thought that was it,” Cone also said.
Everyone in the venue stopped breathing as Baguio got the loose ball then set himself up before unleashing a potential game-winning shot in the final second.
The shot going just a little strong sent the Mixers and their cheering supporters in frenzy, celebrating a key win that put them closer to the tournament leaders.
Despite the loss, the Aces remained the solo leaders at 7-3, half-game ahead the Petron Blaze Boosters (6-3) and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (6-3).
“It was scary. Cyrus is a good shooter and he can hit that,” said Bowles.
The game boiled down to a shot at the buzzer with the two teams engaging in a classic duel of spurts and big baskets upon big baskets at the finish.
Pingris had a significant help for the Mixers, scoring all of his seven points in the last five minutes.
A forceful shot by Pingris off Calvin Abueva in the last 26 seconds turned out to be the winning basket as the Aces were no longer able to answer back in the dying seconds.
Abueva, who put in a career-high 27 points, actually went to the line with 12.1 ticks left. He missed the front-end of his foul shots then was stripped of a second attempt on a double-lane violation called by the refs resulting to a jump ball.
Alaska won the tap, and Abueva, without hesitation, attacked the basket furiously even with coach Luigi Trillo signalling for his team to call timeout.
The Mixers clogged the lane, hardly giving Abueva a space. But then Dozier was able to tap the loose ball to Baguio who was wide open beyond the arc.
Baguio had a good line but overhit the rim and thus the Aces yielded the game. (SB)
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