San Mig Coffee edges past Meralco

For this one night for this one powerhouse team, the adage that defense truly wins games was true.
Dragged into a low-scoring game, San Mig Coffee, its lineup one of the most prolific in the PBA, held Meralco scoreless in the final 3:37 to hammer out a 76-71 decision of the Bolts in the Commissioner’s Cup eliminations at the Ynares Center.
“There were many things that didn’t go our way in this game but we kept battling and battling,” San Mig coach Tim Cone, always a stickler for defense, said. “The thing I like about our team is that even though we struggle, we do a good job on defense.”
James Yap, the former two-time MVP who is one of the deadliest guns in the league, finished with 19 points topped by two free throws in the final 2:48 that shattered a 71-all game and shoved the defending champion Mixers ahead for good.
It was the fourth win in eight games for the Mixers, who came into the game still licking the wounds of a narrow loss to sister squad Barangay Ginebra, getting them back to .500 for the first time.
Meralco dropped to the same 4-4 slate after seeing a three-game winning streak come to a halt.
But the Bolts need not be ashamed of this one as they, too, battled it out only to go cold in the most crucial stretch of the game.
“Hopefully, we can carry the momentum of this game over against Air21,” Cone said, not having any idea that less than three hours later, the Express were to upset league-leader Alaska in the nightcap.
The Express prevailed in another defense-oriented match, holding off the Aces, 74-68 behind 25 points from super import Michael Dunigan.
It was the second straight win in a 3-6 card for the Express, who pounded out the win even with Dunigan the only man to finish in twin digits.
Alaska dropped to 6-2 but still stayed in the lead, now just half-a-game ahead of Petron Blaze and Rain or Shine, which will be shooting for a tie today in a road game scheduled in Panabo City, Davao del Sur.
The Boosters will be playing in the 6:30 p.m. match without an import after Renaldo Balkman was banned by the league last Monday for his unsportsmanlike behavior in a loss to the Aces Wednesday last week.
Petron has come to terms with a replacement in Rodney White, a 6-foot-9 bruiser who saw action for Barako Bull last season.
White, who played just five games for the Energy last year before going home to attend to an ailing father, won’t make it in time for the Petron-Rain or Shine game, his earliest estimated time of arrival listed tomorrow.
Denzel Bowles finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Mixers, including a jumper from about 16 feet that padded the San Mig lead to 75-71 with 2:16 remaining.
Meralco, which got the first triple double in the career of starting point guard Chris Ross – 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists – missed at least five field goal attempts and two free throws by import Eric Dawson to go down.
Dawson had tied it all up at 71 with a barrelling short stab, but the Bolts would never score after that as Meralco lost after throwing away several 12-point leads in the first half.
Dawson, who finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, could have given the Bolts a flicker of hope with 48 seconds to go when he was sent to the free throw line by Marc Pingris. But he missed both attempts badly.
He then tried making up for it by breaking the next San Mig offensive, stealing off Bowles and finding a streaking Ross only for the Meralco point guard to miss a wide-open layup and give Pingris the chance to seal the outcome from the stripe.
Pingris’s split off Ross’ duty foul rounded out scoring.