PBA: No Cabagnot, no problem for Petron, as Boosters dump San Mig Coffee for 2-1 lead

(Updated 10:35pm) The Petron Blaze Boosters bucked the absence of starting point guard Alex Cabagnot to blow out the San Mig Coffee Mixers, 90-68, Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, to take a 2-1 lead in the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup Finals.

The top-seeded Boosters took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, after winning game one, 100-84. Sister team SMC managed to knot the series with a 100-93 win last Sunday, but despite playing without their floor general, Petron managed to blow out their foes in a very one-sided affair.

“We made a couple of adjustments and we’re very happy with the way the team responded,” said Petron head coach Gee Abanilla. “The mark of a good team is how you bounce back after a loss.”

Elijah Millsap, who was a little overeager in their game two loss, led the Boosters with 28 points. Their lead was so big that he didn’t even have to score a single point in the fourth quarter. The Petron import added eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Without a pure point guard in their line-up, the Boosters struggled to get their offense going early in the first quarter. Marqus Blakely successfully chased down a Ronald Tubid fastbreak layup, leading to a basket by Joe Devance for a 9-4 San Mig Coffee lead at the 7:49 mark. The Boosters however went on a quick 15-2 blast to go on top, 19-11.

Substitute point guard Denok Miranda swished back-to-back triples to end the first quarter with Petron holding a 28-20 lead after the first 12 minutes.

Miranda played 18 minutes in the game while Paolo Hubalde logged 18 in Cabagnot’s stead. The two chipped in a combined 15 points to cushion the blow of their starting point guard's absence. Chris Lutz, although unable to score, also helped with the ball-handling chores.

Arwind Santos scored two baskets to start the second quarter and give the Boosters a 32-22 lead. The Mixers' defense was in complete disarray versus Petron's line-up, which prompted head coach Tim Cone to burn an early timeout.

The Mixers however failed to respond as the Petron lead ballooned to 20 after a triple from Elijah Millsap at the 6:19 mark. Petron continued their choking defense on the Mixers, as they carried a 55-30 lead heading to the break.

The Boosters’ defense forced San Mig Coffee to shoot at a poor 33.3 percent clip from the field. On the other hand, they made 51.2 percent of their shots, even converting 7-of-14 triples.

Petron also had eight steals, which led to 15 points off turnovers.

Millsap led all scorers at the half with 16, while June Mar Fajardo and Santos, the top two locals in the conference, chipped in a combined 21 points. San Mig Coffee on the other hand got nine points from Blakely, but he shot at a dismal 3-for-8 clip from the field. Joe Devance and James Yap chipped in six points apiece in the first 24 minutes, but it was nowhere near enough to keep the Mixers on pace.

“I’m not sure what to talk about. They were great, we were not. It’s a seven-game series. A 28-point win is the same as a one point win,” said a defeated Cone after the game. “If we win the next game by a point we’ll forget about this one. There’s no specific thing that went wrong, everything went wrong.”

Cone took the blame for his team saying that he did not prepare his players enough. “As I said in the last game, we need to be firing on all cylinders to beat this team and we didn’t do that tonight.

“When a team plays this badly, it’s not about the players. It’s about the coaching. It’s all on us. We’ll try to forget about this loss and focus on the next one.”

The Mixers continued to self-destruct in the third quarter. After allowing Lassiter an easy put-back that raised the Petron lead to 28, Yap wanted to give the ball to the referee but since play was already live, the referee steered clear, leading to another San Mig Coffee turnover.

Petron's lead ballooned to 30 at 77-47 after five straight points from Millsap. Blakely replied with his own 5-0 run to bring the Boosters' lead back down to 25 at 77-52 heading into the final quarter.

Blakely top-scored for the Mixers with 17 points, while Yap added 10. No other Mixer scored in double-digits.

Unable to get the lead down, the Mixers pulled their punches at the 8:20 mark of the fourth as Jewel Ponferrada stepped in for Blakely, allowing the Boosters to cruise to an easy victory.

Game four is set for Friday at the MOA Arena.  - AMD, GMA News



The scores:

Petron 90 - Millsap 28, Fajardo 19, Lassiter 13, Santos 10, Hubalde 9, Miranda 6, Tubid 5, Deutchman 0, Lutz 0, Kramer 0, Isip 0, Ildefonso 0

San Mig Coffee 68 - Blakely 17, Yap 10, Mallari 9, Devance 9, Barroca 7, Simon 6, Pingris 5, Reavis 3, Alvarez 1, Gaco 1, Ponferrada 0, Acuna 0, Najorda 0, De Ocampo 0.

Quarter scoring: 28-20, 55-30, 77-52, 90-68