San Mig Coffee overcomes 20-point hole to nip Globalport

MANILA, Philippines – The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers did not look like the 3-time champion they were for the first 24 minutes of Friday night’s game.

But it took them the final 24 minutes of the game to show everybody why they have been dominating the league in the past 3 conferences.

San Mig Coffee refused to give up despite the 20-point grave they were in and came roaring back to life in the second half and snatched the W away from Globalport Batang Pier, 92-82, for the Mixers’ third win in 4 outings in the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

PJ Simon led all locals with 24 huge points on 10-of-20 field goals in support of import Marqus Blakely, who showed the way for the Mixers with 25 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assist and 6 steals. 

But the win was nowhere near easy.

The Mixers had a horrible first half. Globalport appeared to be doing everything right and zoomed to an early 29-18 lead. 

San Mig Coffee endured the woes further until such point when the Batang Pier built a daunting 44-24 lead late in the second canto on a Dior Lowhorn and-one play.  

It was Lowhorn’s debut game in his return to the PBA after he replaced Leroy Hickerson for Globalport. Lowhorn previously played for Barangay Ginebra last season and averaged 30.91 points and 11.36 rebounds, per pba-online.net. In this game, Lowhorn managed 33 points and 16 rebounds.

“I was angry at myself at halftime because I felt we didn’t really go hard in practice,” Mixers head coach Tim Cone lamented. “No one to point a finger at except myself.”

But even Lowhorn’s performance, in tandem with a 17-point 51-34 halftime lead, could not stop San Mig Coffee from being their usual selves – gritty, tireless, and dead set on their mission to win.

San Mig Coffee came out of the gates firing in the third period as Globalport failed to avoid the Achilles heel they’ve long had.

They suffered another huge meltdown, this time in the third quarter, allowing the Mixers to nearly equal their first half output and pour in 33 huge points in that period alone. Globalport, on the other hand, was left in the dust with just 17 points.

The massive turnaround was completed early in the fourth when Ian Sangalang converted to give San Mig the lead, 73-72. After which, Blakely scored 4 straight points to extend the lead to 77-72 with less than 5 minutes to go.

Simon, who already scored 11 of his total points in the third, soon scored on another basket to make it a 10-point advantage for the Mixers, 84-74, nearing the two-minute mark.

And as the clock ticked away, Globalport could be found forcing possessions and panicking from blowing away their huge lead.

With 51.6 seconds left, Blakely essentially put the game out of reach with a breakaway jam, 90-78, before rookie Justin Melton pounded the nail even deeper with another dunk off a turnover coming from a timeout, 92-78.

“Our depth and talent won us this game in the second half,” Cone remarked.

The Mixers also came back in the game in large part by forcing 27 turnovers on the Batang Pier, which the translated to 28 points.

Meanwhile, James Yap and Marc Pingris provided key contributions with their 13 and 10 points, respectively.

“Our guys, they’re at a level now that they know they can win games, get back to basics,” Cone added.

Scores:

SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE 92 – Simon 26, Blakely 25, Yap 13, Pingris 10, Devance 8, Sangalang 7, Barroca 3, Maliksi 0, Gaco 0, Holstein 0, Reavis 0, Melton 0.

GLOBALPORT 82 – Lowhorn 33, Washington 16, Cabagnot 12, Menk 10, Matias 7, Romeo 4, Ponferada 0, Salva 0, Salvador 0, Garcia 0, Macapagal 0, Custodio 0.

Quarter scores: 18-29, 34-51, 67-68, 92-82.

– Rappler.com