PBA: San Mig Coffee dominates Ginebra, sets up Finals series against Rain or Shine

(Updated 10:48pm) Tonight's Manila Clasico was billed as a game for the ages. For at least one team, however, it was.

The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers led from wire-to-wire and scuttled Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 110-87, prevailing in game seven of their PLDT MyDSL 2014 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series, Wednesday, at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

James Yap turned back the clock and torched Ginebra with 30 points on an 11-of-18 shooting night, including 7-of-10 from the three-point line. "Scoring Apostle" PJ Simon dropped 28 points and five assists on 11-of-15 shooting.

Rookie Ian Sangalang and veteran Rafi Reavis each had 15 points and tallied seven and 12 rebounds respectively. Marc Pingris notched just eight points, but had 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Coach Tim Cone had some heady praise for his veteran guards after the game. "There's just too much James and PJ tonight. Whatever they ate I'm gonna find out what it was, because I've never seen a shooting performance like that in my life, in my career. Especially in game seven, it was phenomenal," he gushed. "No one's gonna beat us when they're shooting like that."

Ginebra hung back in the low double-digits through three quarters until Simon went on a scoring tear in the fourth, totaling 15 points in the payoff period to put SMC's foes away.

"I kept saying that if we didn't break away at some point, things were gonna get nasty. But they never cooled down. There was just too much of those two guys," said Cone. "It certainly wasn't my coaching, it was just great shooting. I didn't do anything, these guys were just incredible."

The Mixers could do no wrong in the first quarter, as Rafi Reavis easily scored six of their first eight to start the game. San Mig Coffee's crisp execution gave them a 20-11 lead halfway through the frame, capped by consecutive triples from James Yap. The pair combined for 22 points to weather Mark Caguioa and JJ Helterbrand's late surge to end the period, 28-22.

Caguioa went on a scoring tear in the second, singlehandedly tying the game up at 32-32. However, they couldn't pull ahead as Ian Sangalang converted on hustle plays down low, while getting support from PJ Simon and Yap during a 16-3 run, 48-35.

With under five minutes to play, Japeth Aguilar and Caguioa had some success taking the ball in the paint. But on the other end, they couldn't limit the Mixers' offensive rebounds and Yap's hot shooting, forcing them to settle for a 57-44 halftime deficit.

After two quarters, Yap had logged 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from deep. Sangalang had nine points and seven rebounds in the second quarter alone.

LA Tenorio put together his first meaningful stretch on offense after the break, but the Mixers continued to exploit the paint against Ginebra. They were able to get the lead down to nine, 65-56, on an Aguilar and-one halfway through the third. With Aguilar gaining steam, Ginebra hovered around nine points behind, until Alex Mallari buried a triple with five seconds left, 79-67, after three quarters.

Simon was unstoppable from midrange for a good seven minutes. Though Ginebra generated some baskets, their defensive efforts came up short, as Simon racked up 11 of their first 15 points, 96-82.

Ginebra called a timeout with under five minutes to play, but couldn't muster a final rally. They gave up six straight to SMC before finally getting a bucket. With two minutes and change left, Mark Barroca buried a triple in Tenorio's face, 105-84, to wrap up the affair.

Devance nursed a leg injury he suffered last Monday, and according to Cone, is a question mark for the early part of the Finals series against Rain or Shine. "He took a shot to ease the pain in his foot, and we don't know if he'll be available in the first couple of games in the series," he said. "Our health is our weapon, if we're healthy we can compete with anyone."

San Mig Coffee gets a quick one-day break, but their practice is sure to be interrupted by the PBA's finals press conference tomorrow at noon. "We have no preparation for [the Finals]," he said. "We're going into this one with a great disadvantage, but we'll see what we can do."

Cone took a few more jabs at the scheduling, but ultimately backed off and apologized for his testiness and exited from the press room.

The Mixer shot a mind-boggling 42-of-70 (60 percent) from the floor and notched 30 assists in the process. In contrast, Ginebra were 32-of-83 (38.6 percent) and had just 17 assists.

Mark Caguioa led Ginebra with 23 points and five rebounds. Japeth Aguilar added 17 points and nine rebounds. LA Tenorio scraped 12 points, but went 2-of-12 from the arc and managed just two assists. Greg Slaughter tallied 12 points and three rebounds. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

San Mig Coffee 110 - Yap 30, Simon 28, Sangalang 15, Reavis 15, Pingris 8, Barroca 6, Mallari 6, Devance 2, Melton 0

Ginebra 87 - Caguioa 23, Aguilar 17, Tenorio 16, Slaughter 12, Mamaril 6, Helterbrand 5, Ellis 4, Baracael 3, Reyes 1, Monfort 0, Urbiztondo 0

Quarter scoring: 28-20, 57-44, 79-67, 110-87