SAN MIG BACK IN BUSINESS ALRIGHT
San Mig Coffee’s championship hangover is definitely over.
The Governors Cup titleholder is back in championship form, so evident in a dominant triumph over Petron Blaze Wednesday night.
San Mig Coffee stoked the fire of its back-to-back triumphs over Barangay Ginebra and Air21, gaining solo fifth place in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup with a 112-93 rout of Petron Blaze at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Mixers dished out their worthiest showing in the season, securing a spot in the post-elims play of the all-Filipino tourney with their fifth win in their last seven outings and sixth in 13 games in all.
Coach Tim Cone and his chargers could even get a shot at fourth place if they beat Talk n Text in their last game in the elims Friday.
The two teams end up tied at 7-7 if San Mig wins over Talk n Text then the Tropang Texters also lose their last game against the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
The Mixers were simply superb against the Boosters.
“It’s one of those nights where everything comes together for you. There are nights like this and it happened in a very fortunate time for us,” said Cone.
“Hopefully, we can build on this. It doesn’t guarantee us of anything except the quarters. We still need to come out and have a good turnout against Talk n Text,” Cone also said.
Petron needs a turnaround, having lost four of their last six games.
At 9-4, the Boosters, unbeaten in their first seven games in the tourney, are now in danger of missing a Top Two finish in the elims.
Petron’s loss against San Mig allowed Rain or Shine (10-3) to gain solo second place behind pacesetting Barangay Ginebra (10-2).
James Yap scattered 19 points in his return from a one-game layoff – among numerous Mixers who sparkled in this game.
PJ Simon fired a game-high 20 points, Marc Pingris churned out double-double numbers with 15 rebounds and 12 markers while Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang and Joe Devance contributed double-digit outputs.
The Boosters, meanwhile, just couldn’t get into the groove.
The Mixers pounced on the Boosters’ lackadaisical start, taking the first quarter at 25-12, roaring on to sit on a 50-35 cushion at the turn and refusing to relax in the final half.
San Mig Coffee dominated the first 24 minutes of play with a 51.2-percent shooting as against Petron’s 30-percent clip.
Worse was the Boosters’ 4-of-18 shooting (22.2 percent) in the first quarter.
Only four Petron players in Arwind Santos, Junemar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz made the scoring column in the first period. (SB)
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