San Mig Coffee still has Ginebra’s number in Comms Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Different conference, same result. 

Back-to-back champions the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers still have Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s number about a month after they ousted the Gin Kings in a 7-game semifinal series in the previous Philippine Cup. 

San Mig Coffee denied Ginebra some vindication on Sunday, March 16 with a 90-80 victory in the PLDT myDSL Commissioner’s Cup before a jam-packed Smart Araneta Coliseum.  

San Mig held Ginebra to just 13 points in the fourth as they dismantled both the Kings’ offense and defense. The Mixers pushed Ginebra to the outside and clogged up the paint as Ginebra was forced to put up threes that would not hit its mark.

Mixers import James Mays was all out aggression on both sides of the ball the entire 48 minutes – putting a stop on Ginebra’s bigs and at the same time scoring at will. A pair of baskets by Mays handed the Mixers a 79-75 lead with 7:52 remaining. 

He later shoved Ginebra to an 11-point hole, 89-78, with 2:15 left to play off an offensive rebound. 

He finished with 29 points to go with 29 boards. 

“James was a monster on the boards, he was a monster on the hustle,” said head coach Tim Cone. “His activity level is where we want it to be. He was everywhere. When we call Marcus (Blakely) as Mr. Everything, I think we’re gonna call James Mays Mr. Everywhere.”

But the star of the fourth for San Mig was rookie Ian Sangalang. He was constantly on his toes ready for a pass, to score on the break or to stick the ball back to the hoop on the offensive glass. 

The former San Sebastian cager completed an and-one opportunity at the 7-minute mark, 82-76, before he scored 4 straight points to stretch their lead to 9, 87-78 with 4:45 to play. He had 10 points, 8 of which he scored in the fourth. 

“Ian gave us a huge lift in the fourth to give us that lead,” Cone said of Sangalang. “He just doesn’t blink in the fourth quarter when the pressure is on. He just doesn’t back down, he wasn’t afraid. There was a reason he was the consensus second overall draft pick. He doesn’t play pretty but man, he plays effective.”

The Mixers pounced on a weaker third quarter defense by the Gin Kings, going on a 6-2 spurt with 4 of those points produced by guard PJ Simon to overturn Ginebra’s 43-41 halftime lead. 

James Yap came alive in the third drawing from his book of a million moves to to make it a 54-48 Mixers advantage. But Ginebra countered with a 7-0 blitz to briefly take the lead again, 55-54. 

The third frame proved to be the life of the match as both storied franchises went on full throttle with Yap pouring 10 of his 13-point output in that period. LA Tenorio’s playmaking and occasional takeover on offense kept Ginebra afloat as the Gilas point guard drilled two freebies to tie the count at 62 with 3:34 to play in that canto. 

Mixers head coach and 16-time champion Tim Cone eventually played his small ball card of Justin Melton and Mark Barroca – the same combination that created plenty of problems for Ginebra in the Philippine Cup. That resulted to a 6-0 burst for a 68-62 Mixers lead. 

Though Ginebra managed to trim the deficit to 69-67 heading into the fourth. 

The Mixers open the conference with a 2-0 slate while Ginebra dropped to 1-2. – Rappler.com