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PBA: San Mig Coffee snags game two to even finals series with Petron Blaze
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Newly-crowned Best Import Marqus Blakely throws one down. KC Cruz
The San Mig Coffee Mixers tied the best-of-seven PBA Governors’ Cup Finals series with a 100-93 victory over the Petron Blaze Boosters, Sunday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Marqus Blakely, after being named the Best Import of the Conference earlier in the afternoon, dropped 23 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and four steals in an all-around game. James Yap meanwhile was named the Best Player of the Game as he scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out three assists.
Yap led four San Mig Coffee locals in double-digits as PJ Simon, Joe Devance, and Marc Pingris chipped in 16, 15, and 11 points respectively.
“After their fourth quarter in game one, I thought that team is not going to lose,” San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone opined about their opponents. “We executed well, we spread the floor really well and we didn’t allow them to dictate the pace.
After exploding for 41 points in the fourth quarter of game one, the Mixer defense held the Boosters down to 23 points or less in the first three quarters. Petron finally got going in the fourth by scoring 31 points but their comeback attempt fell short.
“Our defense was good tonight,” said Cone. “Joe [Devance], with a lot of help from his teammates, did well against June Mar [Fajardo] and [Marc] Ping [Pingris] did a good job on [Elijah] Millsap.”
The Mixers raced to an early 5-0 lead in the game. However, Elijah Millsap, still reeling from not winning the Best Import of the Conference award, scored with a trey for Petron’s first basket. The game heated up early on as point guards Mark Barroca and Alex Cabagnot exchanged elbows down low at the 8:46 mark. Barroca was called for the flagrant foul, while Cabagnot was slapped with a technical foul.
Alex Mallari stepped in for Barroca and he canned a triple at the 8:16 mark for an 11-6 San Mig Coffee lead. The Mixers got their first double-digit lead of the game, 18-8, after a reverse layup from Marc Pingris, but Millsap scored on a tip-in on the other end to keep his Boosters within striking distance.
The Mixers raised their lead to 12 points, but Alex Cabagnot scored back-to-back jumpers to cut their deficit down to eight at 28-20. San Mig Coffee then held on for a 30-23 lead after the first quarter.
“In game one, we didn’t play a great game. We had a lot of room for improvement," said Cone. "We didn’t realize the amount of intensity we needed to compete with Petron. Game one reminded us just how good a team Petron is."
June Mar Fajardo scored on a layup at the 9:08 mark of the second while receiving a flagrant foul from Mallari. Fajardo made the bonus free throw and Marcio Lassiter knocked down a triple to tie the game at 32-all. Petron momentarily got the lead after a Doug Kramer put-back, but the Mixers scored on two straight fast break plays for a 36-34 advantage.
Petron got a three-point lead at 42-39, but the Mixers went on a 9-0 run to take control of the game. The Mixers led 49-44 at the half.
Millsap dropped 17 points at the half to lead all scorers. Fajardo and Cabagnot backed him up with a combined 17 markers. The Mixers, on the other hand, were led by Yap who had 12 points, while Blakely and Devance added eight points each.
Marqus Blakely, after being named the Best Import of the Conference earlier in the afternoon, dropped 23 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and four steals in an all-around game. James Yap meanwhile was named the Best Player of the Game as he scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out three assists.
Yap led four San Mig Coffee locals in double-digits as PJ Simon, Joe Devance, and Marc Pingris chipped in 16, 15, and 11 points respectively.
“After their fourth quarter in game one, I thought that team is not going to lose,” San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone opined about their opponents. “We executed well, we spread the floor really well and we didn’t allow them to dictate the pace.
After exploding for 41 points in the fourth quarter of game one, the Mixer defense held the Boosters down to 23 points or less in the first three quarters. Petron finally got going in the fourth by scoring 31 points but their comeback attempt fell short.
“Our defense was good tonight,” said Cone. “Joe [Devance], with a lot of help from his teammates, did well against June Mar [Fajardo] and [Marc] Ping [Pingris] did a good job on [Elijah] Millsap.”
The Mixers raced to an early 5-0 lead in the game. However, Elijah Millsap, still reeling from not winning the Best Import of the Conference award, scored with a trey for Petron’s first basket. The game heated up early on as point guards Mark Barroca and Alex Cabagnot exchanged elbows down low at the 8:46 mark. Barroca was called for the flagrant foul, while Cabagnot was slapped with a technical foul.
Alex Mallari stepped in for Barroca and he canned a triple at the 8:16 mark for an 11-6 San Mig Coffee lead. The Mixers got their first double-digit lead of the game, 18-8, after a reverse layup from Marc Pingris, but Millsap scored on a tip-in on the other end to keep his Boosters within striking distance.
The Mixers raised their lead to 12 points, but Alex Cabagnot scored back-to-back jumpers to cut their deficit down to eight at 28-20. San Mig Coffee then held on for a 30-23 lead after the first quarter.
“In game one, we didn’t play a great game. We had a lot of room for improvement," said Cone. "We didn’t realize the amount of intensity we needed to compete with Petron. Game one reminded us just how good a team Petron is."
June Mar Fajardo scored on a layup at the 9:08 mark of the second while receiving a flagrant foul from Mallari. Fajardo made the bonus free throw and Marcio Lassiter knocked down a triple to tie the game at 32-all. Petron momentarily got the lead after a Doug Kramer put-back, but the Mixers scored on two straight fast break plays for a 36-34 advantage.
Petron got a three-point lead at 42-39, but the Mixers went on a 9-0 run to take control of the game. The Mixers led 49-44 at the half.
Millsap dropped 17 points at the half to lead all scorers. Fajardo and Cabagnot backed him up with a combined 17 markers. The Mixers, on the other hand, were led by Yap who had 12 points, while Blakely and Devance added eight points each.
San Mig Coffee's James Yap (L) pulls up against the defense of Best Player of the Conference awardee Arwind Santos. KC Cruz
The Mixers took 55 free throw attempts in the game off 33 fouls called on the Boosters. Petron, on the other hand, only took 31 free throws off 19 fouls whistled on the Mixers. “Fouling out the best three players in our team damages our chances,” rued Abanilla. “It changed the complexion of our game.”
Alex Cabagnot scored seven early third quarter points to keep his Boosters in step. He then matched the output of the entire San Mig Coffee squad in that period to keep Petron's deficit at five, 56-51. Fajardo and Pingris were both whistled for their fourth personal fouls halfway into the third quarter, while later, the two imports exchanged free throws for a 60-55 score, still in favor of the Mixers.
San Mig Coffee threatened to pull away after a triple from Devance and an alley-oop slam from Blakely stretched their lead to 10. PJ Simon gave the Mixers their biggest lead of the game at 14 points but Millsap ended the third quarter with a jumper for a 74-62 count in San Mig Coffee's favor.
The Boosters tried to establish Fajardo early in the fourth but he struggled with his free throws. He also committed his fifth foul with still nine minutes left in the game. As the big man took a seat, Millsap carried the offense for the Boosters. He went in for a layup at the 8:29 mark to cut San Mig Coffee's lead down to seven at 75-68.
The Mixers then responded with an undergoal stab from Blakely and a long triple from Mallari to re-erect a double digit lead at 82-70.
With the Mixers leading 87-76 with 3:29 left in the game, Millsap was called for his sixth foul on Blakely, who scored a split on the line for a 12-point San Mig Coffee lead.
The Boosters got a lease on life as Lassiter was fouled with Blakely getting a technical foul for complaining. However, Blakely was fouled at the other end with Arwind Santos getting technical, to give the Mixers an 89-79 advantage.
Cabagnot's triple trickled in with 2:19 left in the game to give his Boosters a fighting chance, by trimming their deficit down to seven points.
The endgame turned into a free throw shooting session for the Mixers. With their lead down to six at the 1:07 mark, Blakely uncharacteristically made both free throws for a 93-85 San Mig Coffee lead.
The Mixers had some anxious moments though as Lassiter and Ronald Tubid made triples with the clock running down. However, Simon was steady from the free throw line to preserve the win for San Mig Coffee.
“We’ll see if we can go out in game three and repeat our performance, but I’m sure Petron will be a better focused team,” Cone said. “What tonight proved was that even if we are sister teams, we are not friendly.”
The Mixers actually shot worse from the field with a 43.2 percent clip compared to Petron’s 46.4 percent mark. However, the Mixers made up for it by getting 12 more rebounds and nine more steals for more shot attempts.
Cabagnot led the Booster locals with 22 points, while Fajardo, added 16 in 33 foul-plagued minutes. Santos, the newly-crowned Best Player of the conference, struggled all game long with only four points and a single rebound.
Game three will be on Wednesday, still at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. - RAF, GMA News
The scores:
San Mig Coffee 100 - Blakely 23, Yap 17, Simon 16, Devance 15, Pingris 11, Barroca 9, Mallari 8, Reavis 1, De Ocampo 0
Petron 93 - Millsap 31, Cabagnot 22, Fajardo 16, Lassiter 10, Tubid 5, Santos 4, Miranda 3, Kramer 2, Lutz 0
Quarter scoring: 30-23, 49-44, 74-62, 100-93
