PBA: San Mig Coffee slays Ginebra sans Pingris, Devance

The San Mig Coffee Mixers bucked the absence of the suspended Marc Pingris and Joe Devance, to score an 89-86 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Sunday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, in the 2013 PBA Governors' Cup.

"It was a must-win gave for both teams," said San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone. "It just so happened that we pulled out the win."

The Mixers improved to .500 at 3-3, while Ginebra continues to struggle, dropping to 2-4, in a tie with the GlobalPort Batang Pier for second-to-last place.

Marqus Blakely led the Mixers with 30 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks, while James Yap, who was named the Best Player of the Game, chipped in 19 points and nine rebounds. But it was Yap's defense that caught Cone's attention.

"You guys may not notice, but James has been the best defensive player in our team," Cone said. "In our last game, he did a good job on Gary [David]. now he did a good job on Mark [Caguioa]. His defense is inspiring his teammates to also player better defense."

Big men Pingris and Devances were waylaid due to suspensions from the league office, for their roles in a brawl with the GlobalPort Batang Pier earlier this week.

Ginebra started the game by going on a 12-0 run. Chris Ellis got the Gin Kings going as he opened the game with a fast break dunk on Marqus Blakely. The Mixers finally got on the board at the 8:29 mark of the first after a Yancy de Ocampo basket.

James Yap started to heat up midway through the first though, scoring six points in rapid succession to prevent Ginebra from pulling away further. Two free throws and a basket from Blakely at the 3:40 mark of the first sliced Ginebra's lead down to six at 21-15, and the first quarter ended with them ahead by only four, 26-22.

San Mig Coffee opened the second with a Blakely three and a PJ Simon fast break layup to grab a 27-26 lead. After Mark Caguioa scored his first two points of the game, one-time Ginebra player Allein Maliksi got back-to-back baskets for a 31-28 San Mig Coffee advantage.

The Mixers extended their lead to six at 38-32 after a Yap trey and an Alex Mallari layup, but LA Tenorio responded with a floater to cut their deficit down to four. SMC then completed their second quarter fightback by getting a 43-40 lead at the half.

Yap led all scorers at the half with 14 points off 5-of-8 shooting from the field. Blakely added 10 but he went 4-of-10 from the free throw line. Lowhorn and Tenorio led the charge of Ginebra with 10 points each.

Ginebra fell behind in the second quarter as they only made 20 percent of their shots. They kept the game close though at the stripe, hitting 6-of-8 while the Mixers blanked at that area, making 0-of-4.


The Mixers continued to hold on to their slim lead to start the third quarter. An and-one play followed by two free throws from Blakely gave the Mixers a 55-46 lead with 7:17 left in the third. Ginebra responded with two straight baskets from Lowhorn and Ellis, but Blakely scored on another and-one play for a 58-50 count in their favor.

The Barangay then went on a 7-0 run punctuated by a Tenorio triple at the 4:23 mark to get within a single point. Two free throws from Tenorio gave Ginebra the lead, but Blakely and Mark Barroca replied with baskets for a 64-61 count in their favor. Simon made two free throws right after, but Willie Wilson scored on a jump hook to end the third quarter with San Mig Coffee holding just a 66-63 lead.

Two fast break layups extended San Mig's lead to seven at 72-65 early in the fourth quarter. Caguioa replied with two free throws, but Simon and De Ocampo scored on back-to-back baskets for a 76-67 Mixers lead with 8:50 left in the game.

Ginebra trimmed that down to just five points after a Dior Lowhorn dunk at the 5:45 mark of the fourth. The Mixers, on the other hand, got into foul trouble as Maliksi and De Ocampo both stepped out with five each. Another Lowhorn basket at the 2:45 mark got Ginebra to within two points of the Mixers at 81-79.

Barroca stepped up late in the game as he sank two long jumpers to offset baskets from Lowhorn and Caguioa. The Mixers then completed a stop that resulted in a Blakely dunk, giving San Mig Coffee an 89-83 lead with 1:04 left in the game.

In the end, San Mig Coffee's second quarter run was the difference, as the two teams fought to a deadlock in the final two periods. Luckily for the Mixers, Simon and Barroca played well down the stretch as they scored six points each in the final quarter.

"We missed Ping and Joe but they were also missing Japeth [Aguilar] and Kerby [Raymundo] which evened things out," Cone said. "Now we have to bounce back really quick as we have Alaska on Tuesday. We'll have Joe back but we'll still miss Ping."

Dior Lowhorn had another monster game with 29 points and 18 rebounds. The Kings went exclusively to their import in the crucial stages of the game and he responded, but he didn't get enough help from the locals. LA Tenorio scored 17 for Ginebra, while narrowly missing a triple-double with nine rebounds and nine assists, but he was the only Ginebra local who scored in double-digits. - RAF, GMA News


The scores:

San Mig Coffee 89 - Blakely 30, Yap 19, Barroca 10, Simon 10, Maliksi 8, De Ocampo 6, Reavis 4, Mallari 2, Acuna 0, Gaco 0

Ginebra 86 - Lowhorn 29, Tenorio 17, Ellis 8, Wilson 7, Baracael 6, Mamaril 6, Caguioa 6, Helterbrand 5, Maierhofer 2, Ababou 0, Urbiztondo 0

Quarter scoring: 22-26, 43-40, 66-63, 89-86