PBA: Late defensive stand gives San Mig Coffee the crown as Cone registers record 16th title

(Updated 11:07pm) The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers fought off the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 93-87, to claim the PLDT MyDSL 2014 PBA Philippine Cup championship, Wednesday, in game six at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

The win marks coach Tim Cone's record 16th championship, surpassing the previous mark set by Baby Dalupan. Including tonight's trophy, Cone has won consecutive titles six times in 27 Finals appearances. It's also the franchise's sixth all-Filipino title.

[Related: 'Coffee Prince' Mark Barroca named Finals MVP]

Finals MVP Mark Barroca led all scorers with 24 points, five assists and two steals. Rookie Ian Sangalang and Joe Devance put up 15 and 12 points respectively, and combined for nine rebounds and five assists. Marc Pingris managed 12 points and 11 rebounds, while James Yap provided 10 points.

"We won it and we can honestly say we're the greatest team in the country. We have the best collection of players who played the best together, I couldn't have been prouder of our guys," said coach Tim Cone after the game.

A championship was nearly inconceivable at the start of the conference, as the team began a disappointing 1-5, due to injuries. However, the 2013 Governors' Cup champs found their form late, winning four in a row heading into the postseason.

"It's a little surreal at this point. I'm just in of in a daze right now, there's so many emotions right now, I'm having a tough time sorting it out," Cone added. "We could've been staring at a 1-3 deficit instead of being up 3-1. We won a couple of games you normally don't win against Rain or Shine, we just happened to win this time."

[Related: Ely Capacio, former PBA player, coach, and official, passes away]

However, Cone said his only regret was that Petron vice governor Ely Capacio, who passed away last week, was not around to celebrate the victory.

Rain or Shine was down by five with under a minute left, 91-86, but couldn't eat into the margin. Paul Lee, receiving the ball off the inbounds, was picked up by Marc Pingris and dribbled the ball out of bounds under immense defensive pressure.

"We intended on switching and I thought Ping did a great job of taking away the three, we were more worried about the three at that point than the two," said Cone. "To me, he's [Pingris] one of the top two or three in the PBA at this point. He's developed a dominant inside game, and he dominates the game on the defensive side. He can run the floor, his defense can guard anybody. He's so unique, he's the only player in the league can do that."

San Mig Coffee was passing extremely well around the post, often finding Joe Devance, Marc Pingris or Rafi Reavis to get an easy two. The Mixers' frontcourt combined for 14 points while the Elasto Painters shot blanks, 22-12. Ryan Araña though stemmed the tide with an and-one at the 3:21 mark, but James Yap hit a triple to highlight an 8-2 run, as the Mixers led 30-17 after the first frame.

Early in the second quarter, JR Quiñahan picked up a foul at with 11:39 on the clock, while contesting a Pingris floater. Already incensed at the officiating in the first period, coach Yeng Guiao led his team in a march back to the dugout. The situation was soon defused though and Rain or Shine returned to the court, hit with a warning for delay of game. The ploy worked briefly as Jeff Chan and Ryan Arana hit tough buckets in the paint to narrow the lead to single digits, 31-22.

[Related: Guiao leads Rain or Shine in walkout, but team returns to play]

Mark Barroca though silenced the rally with a three-pointer, and there was still no remedy in sight for the Elasto Painters' woeful interior defense. Pingris and Ian Sangalang combined for seven points in the ensuing 12-4 run, 43-26.

But surprisingly, Rain or Shine salvaged the half with a strong finish, inspired by bullheaded play by Paul Lee in the lane. The Elasto Painters went on a 17-7 run in the last six minutes, including 11 unanswered to end the half trailing 49-43.

At halftime, Rain or Shine led 10-0 in fast break points and 9-2 in second-chance points

In an up-tempo third period, the Mixers led by no more than six points, 58-52, after a James Yap layup. But San Mig Coffee began to buckle under the defensive pressure and surrendered a 13-4 rally, powered by turnover lay-ins and punctuated by consecutive treys from Lee and Chris Tiu, 65-62. However, the Elasto Painters couldn't sustain the pace, allowing PJ Simon and Mark Barroca to trim the gap to one after three quarters, 67-66.

While Rain or Shine forced shots from deep, Sangalang exploited his defensive assignments in the fourth, as he and Barroca combined for 11 points in a 13-3 run, 79-70. But Lee quickly checked back in the game, and scored eight straight points to bring Rain or Shine to within three, 81-78.

As the game went down the wire Barroca and Belga furiously traded and-ones and threes, until Pingris made charities at 1:07, 91-86, forcing Rain or Shine to call timeout trailing 91-86.

The Elasto Painters couldn't get a bucket, but instead got a couple of offensive boards before deciding to burn another timeout. Lee drove baseline but turned the ball over with 37 ticks left.

The Mixers called timeout and triggered the ball to Barroca, who was fouled, and split from the line, 92-86. Rain or Shine then burned their last timeout with 29.4 left on the clock.

Lee drew a foul and split from the line, missing the second. Rain or Shine secured the offensive board, but couldn't get a put-back after several attempts.

Guiao was angry over a non-call, leading to another technical free throw, which Barroca converted to finalize the tally.

Even after the walkout, Cone admitted he maintained tremendous respect still for coach Yeng Guiao.

"I'm really jealous of his system and the way he does things," said Cone. "I just hope it [the walkout] doesn't detract from the hard work we put into this game and the whole series. We played hard, I thought we outplayed them early. Yeng motivates in different ways, it was up to us to keep our heads and keep focused on winning the basketball game."

San Mig Coffee shot 35-of-70 (50 percent) from the floor and 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) from the line. Rain or Shine was 34-of-86 (39.5 percent) from the floor and 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) from the stripe.

Rain or Shine led in fast break points (16-2), second chance points (14-5) and turnover points (15-7).

Paul Lee led the Elasto Painters with 23 points, while Beau Belga notched 21 points and six boards. Jervy Cruz tallied 11 points and nine rebounds. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

San Mig Coffee 93 - Barroca 24, Sangalang 15, Devance 12, Pingris 12, Yap 10, Simon 9, Reavis 5, Mallari 4, Melton 2

Rain or Shine 87 - Lee 23, Belga 21, Cruz 11, Chan 7, Quinahan 6, Rodriguez 6, Arana 5, Tiu 3, Ibanes 3, Norwood 2, Almazan 0, Tang 0

Quarter scoring: 30-17, 49-43, 66-67, 93-87