The San Mig Coffee Mixers chalked up a badly needed victory, downing sister-team Barangay Ginebra Kings, 83-79, last night in the 39th PBA Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Coffee Mixers snapped a two-game slide while ending the Kings’ six-game win streak.
In the other game, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters used a blistering third quarter attack to dispatch the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 98-87.
San Mig’s win and GlobalPort’s loss created a five-way logjam at the fifth to ninth spots.
San Mig, GlobalPort, Barako Bull, Meralco and Alaska now sport 4-7 (win-loss), making the playoff race more interesting as the elimination round winds down to its final games.
Despite the loss, Ginebra remains at the top of the standings with a 9-2 card followed by the Petron Blaze Boosters, who hold an 8-2 record.
Rain or Shine’s win allowed them to inch closer to Petron, tallying its eighth win in 11 games. At fourth place are the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters with a 7-3 card.
Only eight teams will advance to the playoffs with the bottom two getting the boot.
Mark Barroca led the way for the Coffee Mixers with 16 points. PJ Simon added 15, while Marc Pingris and James Yap added 12 each.
Japet Aguilar sustained his strong showing in the conference with a 26-point performance to lead Ginebra, which also got 14, 13 and 12 markers from Cebuano Greg Slaughter, LA Tenorio and Mac Baracael, respectively.
Rain or Shine, meanwhile, pounced on the absence of GlobalPort’s top pointguard Solomon Mercado, who sat out with a left Achilles tendon injury.
The Painters, who stretched their winning run to four and avenged their 88-90 defeat to the Batang Pier in their initial encounter last Dec. 8, got a big boost from Alex Nuyles, who fired a career-high 16 points. He also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals to cop the Best Player of the Game award.
Jay Washington paced the Batang Pier with 26 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.