THE SAN MIG Coffee Mixers secured a twice-to-beat advantage going into the playoff after pulling off a tight 88-87 win over the Meralco Bolts last night in the 38th PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Coffee Mixers finished the elimination round with six wins and three losses to emerge as the second seed in the quarterfinals next to the top seed Petron Blaze Boosters, who collected eight wins in nine games in the initial round.
San Mig ended the eliminations on a five-game winning streak.
The Bolts dropped to 5-4 (win-loss). Their bid for a twice-to-beat edge in the quarter will rely on the results of the last elimination round games on Sunday.
The top four teams after the eliminations will enjoy twice-to-beat edges over their lower ranked quarterfinal foes.
Still in the running for that crucial incentive are the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (5-4) and the Alaska Aces (4-4).
In case of ties at the end of the eliminations, playoffs will only be made for the fourth and eighth spots.
Import Marqus Blakely was the leading scorer for the Coffee Mixers with 24 but it was PJ Simon who won the Best Player of the Game award with 20 markers on a nine-for-16 shooting from the field.
Blakely also came up with a big defensive stop in the final seconds, partially blocking Mario West’s potential game-winning triple as the final buzzer sounded.
West topped the Bolts with a game-high 31 points, while Cliff Hodge and John Wilson added 19 and 13 markers, respectively.
BOX SCORES:
SAN MIG (88)- Blakely 24, Simon 20, Mallari 8, Yap 8, Pingris 7, Barroca 6, Maliksi 5, Devance 5, Reavis 5, De Ocampo 0.
MERALCO (87)- West 31, Hodge 19 Wilson 13, Reyes 6, Hugnatan 6, Salvacion 6, Cortez 4, Cardona 2, Guevarra 0, Ross 0, Allado 0. /EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA