SAN MIG COFFEE IN COMMAND
Marc Pingris had been carrying much load for San Mig Super Coffee. With one good eye on the bench, he saw his teammates take over as the Mixers made it three in a row over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their title collision Friday night.
The Mixers bucked the loss of Pingris due to a badly poked right eye in the third period, and again beat out the E-Painters, 93-90, in a down-the-wire finish to take a pivotal 3-1 lead in the PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup Finals before a crowd of over 11,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We won the battle tonight and hopefully we don’t lose the war with Ping badly injured,” said Cone. “We don’t know what exactly happened to his eye, but obviously it’s a huge blow for us.”
Cone said they’re not tapping their shoulders in the dugout, knowing it’s not over till it’s over.
“We have to keep working and keep pushing especially against this Rain or Shine team,” the multi-titled San Mig bench chieftain said, who himself once blew a 3-1 series lead.
The Governors’ Cup titleholders did keep working and keep pushing especially after the ouster of Pingris, and thus pulled off another escape act to inch closer to a first-ever back-to-back championships.
Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, however, insisted they’re not about to give up the fight.
“It’s a tough loss. But again, we’re not giving this series up till it’s over. We’ll come back Sunday. We’ll try to get back into this series,” said Guiao.
The E-Painters again waged a whale of a fight but again came up short with Paul Lee misfiring a potential game-tying three-pointer in the dying seconds.
Mark Barroca made it a three-point lead for San Mig at 93-90 on two important charities with 12.4 ticks left.
“I thought Paul Lee’s shot would go in and we would go into overtime. We’re fortunate again to win the match,” said Cone.
He made special mention of Joe Devance, Ian Sangalang and Barroca who stepped up on the ouster of Pingris.
San Mig was ahead, 60-59, when Pingris injured his right eye on an accidental hit from JR Quinahan with 4:59 left to play.
The E-Painters worked on a crucial turnaround following Pingris’ exit and carried a 76-70 lead over into the payoff quarter.
Lee closed out the third quarter by scoring off Alex Mallari on a clear-out play in the closing seconds.
The Mixers, however, quickly regained the upperhand, 82-78, in the fourth and hung tough to the finish.
Sangalang, Barroca and James Yap all finished with 17 points each while Joe Devance and PJ Simon added 12 apiece.
Lee led all scorers with 28 points but failed to get much support from his teammates.
The Mixers made six of their 11 three-point tries and converted 57.6 percent of their overall field attempts as they took the half at 52-42. (SB)
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