SAN MIG COFFEE BUCKS FATIGUE
Grand slam-chasing San Mig Super Coffee showed no sign of championship hangover or fatigue, coming out with its normal spunk as it subdued Barako Bull, 76-66, in its PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup debut at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
With a balanced effort, the Mixers took control almost throughout, overcoming a challenge put up by the Energy in the payoff period to pull off a convincing victory that spoke well of their capability to pursue the final ware that will complete a Triple Crown.
Coach Tim Cone tried to play down what they showed in the game, though.
“We certainly didn’t look like a champ team today,” said Cone. “There’s a little bit of disruption in the rotation with Allein (Maliksi) and Marqus (Blakely) coming in. We stayed in the game with our defense.”
It was actually the Energy that stayed in the fight, hanging in there though trailing almost all night long.
But they didn’t hang long enough to have a shot at a follow-up to their 95-94 win over the Meralco Bolts Sunday.
PJ Simon scored seven of his 17 points in the last four minutes to personally scuttle the Energy’s bid.
“It’s just a whirlwind for us right now. We’ll sharpen our offense with a little more time,” said Cone.
“But I hope we get early wins to finish in the Top Four then get to the playoffs,” Cone added.
Blakely, tipped to provide much energy with the San Mig local aces taking some breather, delivered enough effort to help the Mixers roll past Barako Bull.
The reigning Governors’ Cup Best Import marked his second return in the local pro league with 24 rebounds, 10 points, four assists and two blocks against four errors in 37 minutes of action.
Simon, James Yap, Marc Pingris and Joe Devance started for the team as usual. But no one played more than 29 minutes.
Maliksi put in eight points on 3-of-5 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws as the former UM Hawk and UST Tiger rejoined the Mixers after his recovery from another ACL surgery.
Eric Wise paced the losing team with 25 points and 15 rebounds. (SB)
The scores:
SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE 76 – Simon 17, Blakely 10, Yap 9, Maliksi 8, Pingris 8, Devance 6, Sangalang 6, Melton 5, Barroca 3, Mallari 2, Reavis 2.
BARAKO 66 – Wise 25, Intal 11, Fortuna 7, Lastimosa 6, Najorda 4, Miller 4, Deutchman 3, Jensen 2, Isip 2, Thiele 1, Miranda 1, Wilson 0, Marcelo 0.
Quarterscores: 25-21, 39-34, 58-54, 76-66
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