PBA: Bowles tallies 29 as San Mig Coffee smothers Air21

(Updated 7:34pm) The San Mig Coffee Mixers defeated the Air21 Express, Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, 80-66, to officially punch their ticket to the quarterfinals. SMC improved to 7-6, to win two in a row for the first time since a three-game victory streak earlier in the conference, while Air21 lost three straight, for a 5-8 card, just a win above Barako Bull Energy Cola. Denzel Bowles led the Mixers with 29 points and 16 rebounds while Marc Pingris added 14 points and 14 rebounds.   With the usually reliable San Mig shooting guards groping for form, the Mixers relied heavily on their frontcourt to carry their offense in the first half of the game. Bowles and Pingris combined for 29 first half points to build a lead for San Mig.   PJ Simon finally showed up in the second half to score 12 points and help the Mixers get their seventh win of the conference.   "When James Yap is not available, it sure is nice to have PJ Simon out there," said San Mig head coach Tim Cone. "PJ played a wonderful game along with Denzel. Ping played well and hopefully he's not going to be out for long, but he sprained the same ankle he's having trouble with the entire conference."   The ailing Yap failed to score the entire game. "James could easily say 'Coach, I want to sit this one out' but that's not the culture we're trying to establish and I appreciate the effort," said Cone.   James Yap did not start for the San Mig Coffee Mixers. Still recovering from the illness that limited his minutes in their last game, San Mig head coach Tim Cone decided it would be best to put PJ Simon in the starting line-up. It was San Mig's other guard who started the scoring for the Mixers, though, as Barroca swooped in for a lay-up.   Air21 had a quick reply as Nelbert Omolon banked in a lay-up on the next possession. Marc Pingris scored on a put-back with 8:32 left in the first and Denzel Bowles added two more points off a reverse for an 8-2 San Mig advantage.   The Express called a timeout, but they turned the ball over when play resumed, which turned into a Pingris fast break dunk. A Joe Devance triple and a Bowles long two then gave the Mixers a 15-2 lead with 5:53 left in the first.   KG Canaleta and Mark Isip combined for an 8-0 run for the Express to trim the San Mig lead down to five points, before a free throw from Bowles bumped it back to a 16-10 lead. Bowles closed the first quarter with a put-back for a 20-16 San Mig advantage.   The Express kept chipping away at San Mig's lead until a Michael Dunigan three-point play knotted the game at 23 with 8:28 left in the second period. Back-to-back undergoal stabs from Pingris gave the Mixers a 39-29 lead to end the half. Bowles led all scorers at halftime with 19 big points while Pingris added 10 for the Mixers. The Express, on the other hand, were led by their prolific import with 10 points.   Yap went scoreless in eight minutes of play, going 0-for-5 from the field. Simon also went scoreless in the first half going 0-of-3 from the field in 15 minutes.   Bowles picked up from where he left off as he scored the opening basket in the third canto for a 41-29 San Mig lead. Barroca added a three-ball on their next trip on offense to extend their lead to 15.   A reverse lay-up from Dunigan and a fastbreak deuce from Isip sliced the San Mig lead down to 10 at 48-38 with 6:43 left in the third. Simon finally scored his first two points with 3:49 left in the third to give the Mixers a 13-point advantage at 54-41.   After going scoreless in the first half, Simon scored six points in the third quarter to help the Mixers get a 60-45 lead heading to the payoff period.   The Mixers kept the Express at bay in the fourth quarter as they repeatedly quelled Air21's attempts to rally, but disaster struck for San Mig as Pingris rolled his ankle at the 8:32 mark of the fourth.   Without Pingris smothering the paint on defense, Canaleta easily strolled inside the lane to cut the lead down to 14, but Simon quickly scored back to back baskets for a 68-50 San Mig lead halfway into the fourth. Facing an 18-point deficit, Canaleta buckled down and got to business by scoring nine straight points for Air21 and cutting the lead down to 13 with still more than four minutes left in the game.   Another Canaleta triple at the 3:55 mark further trimmed the San Mig lead down to 10 at 72-62.   Barroca stopped the bleeding for San Mig with a steal and lay-up against Wynne Arboleda to give the Mixers a 12-point advantage with only 2:12 left. Jerwin Gaco connected with the dagger at the 1:12 mark with an elbow jumper for a 78-66 advantage with only 1:12 left in the game. Gaco scored again on a baseline jumper to settle the final score.   "If we're going to start playing good basketball, this is the time to do it," Cone added. "We had a nice comeback game against Talk 'N Text and we got this win, so hopefully we can continue our winning streak against Meralco on Saturday so we can have some momentum going into the quarters." KG Canaleta led Air21 with 26 points, converting 8-of-25 from the field. Michael Dunigan added 18 markers, plus 17 rebounds and four blocks. The Mixers dominated the rebounding in the game getting 63 caroms to only 46 for the Express. They also grabbed 25 offensive rebounds to somehow cover their below par 39.5 percent shooting from the field. - RAF/AMD, GMA News