San Mig shuts down Meralco, advances with 90-82 victory

San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone had tried so hard to keep the words ‘déjà vu’ out of the equation when their playoff with Meralco started last week.
When the smoke of the battle cleared, there wasn’t any way their series could be described.
The defending champion Mixers completed another series comeback against the Bolts last night, posting a 90-82 victory that put them in the Final Four of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
San Mig held Meralco scoreless in the final 7:58 and won their best-of-three series, 2-1, the same slate that was last season as the Mixers won the last two games for the second straight year after losing the series opener.
“I think it’s a completely different series because this one was a grind-it-out defensive-type of a series,” Cone told reporters. “I think they got tired in the end, especially (Eric) Dawson (the Meralco import).” Cone and his boys thus advance to face Alaska, the tournament top seed, in a best-of-five semifinal series that starts Saturday. And San Mig has a perfect record against the Aces ever since Cone abandoned that squad two years ago.
“Maybe we have a little confidence against them. But we can only use it so far,” Cone said. “We have a tough opponent coming for us. We’re playing the No. 1 seeds.” San Mig actually completed the semifinal cast with Talk ‘N Text and crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra figuring in the other Final Four pairing. That series will start tomorrow also at the Big Dome.
The Mixers had a couple of 15-point leads in the second quarter that were wiped out by the resilient Bolts, who even had an 82-79 lead entering the final 7:58 after Chris Ross beat the 24-second shot clock with a triple.
But Meralco would suffer a power outage like never before, as Eric Dawson, its usually prolific import, and Mac Cardona, its prime local scorer, both failed to score in the fourth quarter where the Bolts were held to just seven points.
Dawson still finished with 24 points, but the ouster of the Bolts has also eliminated him from contending for the Best Import award, which Denzel Bowles won hands-down last season.
Bowles led the Mixers with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and James Yap, despite a bad back, scattered 20 points in 30 painful minutes on the floor, an effort that was handsomely paid as San Mig made the Final Four for the fourth straight conference.
“I dedicated two days of rehab and therapy on my back just to be able to play in this game,” Yap said in the native tongue. “I was ready, whether or not coach Tim would play me. I just wanted to be ready for my teammates.” The 6-foot-11 Bowles suffered a nasty cut near the right eyebrow in the second period courtesy of a wayward Reynel Hugnatan elbow.
He went back to the locker room to have the cut stitched, and the rest proved to be a blessing in disguise as Bowles returned with so much energy at the start of the third period and clearly outplayed Dawson in that stretch.