San Mig Coffee survives brewing Globalport storm to win

Ugly was how coach Tim Cone described it, although his San Mig Coffee Mixers still got the job done just the same.
San Mig Coffee dodged another upset axe last night, with Marc Pingris and James Yap doing the damage on Globalport in different stages of the fourth quarter for an 82-78 PBA Philippine Cup victory at the Araneta Coliseum.
Pingris got the Mixers back in the game from a 15-point deficit, and the two-time MVP Yap hit 11 straight points in the final quarter’s most crucial stretches as San Mig Coffee won a second straight game and rose to a second place tie after improving to 4-2.
Meralco also won a second straight game and likewise earned a second place tie with idle Rain or Shine and Alaska later in the night, leading by as many as 24 points before dusting off Barako Bull, 99-86.
Sol Mercado scored 22 points and Mac Cardona and Ronjay Buenafe had 16 each for the Bolts, who dealt the Energy a third straight loss in a 2-5 card. The Mixers lagged behind by as many as 15 points at 47-32 early in the third period before steadily nibbling away at that deficit in the fourth through Pingris.
And when the Mixers were truly back in the mix again, Yap struck with reckless abandon, making a crosshair out of the defense of Mark Yee with his fallaway jumper with 38.8 seconds remaining ushering San Mig Coffee to the lead to stay, 79-78.
And it wasn’t that Globalport, the league newcomer, didn’t have a chance to snatch the lead back, but Willie Miller, also a two-time MVP who was chiefly responsible for giving the Batang Pier that imposing lead and keeping them in the game, missed a golden chance by throwing up a left-handed layup short.
That resulted in a free throw by Mark Barroca after a pre-emptive foul by Rabeh Al-Hussaini for 80-78, before rookie Vic Manuel, who had 17 points for Globalport, muffed what looked like a makeable short stab under pressure on the other end to doom the Batang Pier.
Barroca made two more free throws after that Manuel miss to seal scoring.
“You can’t just walk into a basketball court expecting to just show up and win,” San Mig coach Tim Cone told scribes later after getting five players in twin digits and 16 rebounds and 17 points from Pingris.
Pingris also had 11 points in the fourth period and was asked by Cone to man Miller from the third quarter on. Miller was up to the challenge, finishing with 17 of his 19 points in the final two periods and almost winning it singlehandedly for the Batang Pier.
“Right now, I wish we could be a little smoother, to move the ball better. In the meantime, we’ll take the ugly wins and hopefully, we can win pretty down the line,” he continued.
“We were forced to admit that we had a match going with them.”
Globalport took a third straight loss and dropped to 1-6 overall, but that record does not reflect how well the Batang Pier have been playing in their past games.
Coach Glenn Capacio believes that the breaks of the game have not gone their way, and that his squad is headed for better times.
“It’s still the breaks of the game for me,” Capacio said. “Even with our record, I am not ashamed of my team. I am very proud of my players who are actually playing beyond expectations. But we need to know how to finish a game.
“We are headed to something good, I can tell,” Capacio said. “It may not be now, but we will get there.”