SAN MIG COFFEE INCHES CLOSER TO GRAND SLAM
San Mig Super Coffee made a huge step towards achieving its grand slam quest as the Mixers overcame fatigue, a slow start and the absence of a key player in knocking out the San Miguel Beermen, 97-90, in their PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals matchup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night.
Trailing by as many as 16 points early on, the Mixers hung around in the first 46 minutes of play before making a decisive run to turn things around and eventually beat the Beermen for a spot in the Final Four.
Pulling off the stirring come-from-behind win in the absence of injured gunner PJ Simon, the Mixers advanced to the best-of-five semifinals versus playoffs top seeds the Talk n Text Tropang Texters.
The Texters, earlier in the night, eliminated the Barako Bull Energy, 99-84.
The Mixers now get some rest after playing two games in two nights.
“I don’t even know how we handled fatigue in this game,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
“It was a tough balancing act from last night (Monday). But we seemed to get energy in the fourth quarter,” Cone added.
Before the game, the Mixers were more concerned with the absence of Simon (out due to a back injury).
“We didn’t get the word with PJ until about two hours before the game. He couldn’t stand up at home. That’s shocking and that’s a big blow,” said Cone. “PJ means so much for our team. (His absence) put us under the gun and put much pressure of James (Yap). But the guys stepped in for PJ.”
Stepping up big time was second-string guard Justin Melton who came through with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal against three turnovers in 23 minutes of action.
Marqus Blakely, Melton, Allein Maliksi, Mark Barroca and Ian Sangalang teamed up to give San Mig Coffee a strong finish as the Mixers ended the Beermen’s 2014 PBA season.
San Miguel Beer finished with a 5-5 mark in the conference and 25-17 in the season.
The Beermen came out much stronger, dominating inside as they took the opening quarter at 27-14.
June Mar Fajardo was a tremendous force early on, piling up eighth points and eight rebounds in the first 12 minutes of play.
The Mixers, however, started to pick up their game in the second period and closed in, 44-48, at the half.
The Beermen kept a four-point lead, 70-66, at the end of the third but then started to break down.
Marc Pingris scored on a short stab, before Blakely and Barroca had their pairs of charities as the Mixers raced ahead to stay at 88-81. (SB)
The scores:
SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE 97 – Blakely 25, Melton 16, Devance 14, Maliksi 9, Pingris 8, Sangalang 8, Yap 7, Barroca 6, Mallari 2, Reavis 2, Taha 0.
SAN MIGUEL BEER 90 – Williams 21, Santos 21, Fajardo 16, Tubid 8, Lassiter 8, Ross 5, Mercado 4, Maierhofer 3, Kramer 2, Lutz 2, Lanete 0.
Quarterscores: 14-27, 44-48, 66-70, 97-90
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