San Mig enhances bid for quarterfinal bonus

San Mig Coffee recovered from a slow start and completed an 86-69 rout of Toyota Otis yesterday as it stayed in the hunt for the twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinal round in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym in Manila.

The Coffee Kings struggled in the first quarter but pressed their bid in the second to seize control before pouring it all in the third period en route to the victory, their seventh in 15 games to tie their victims in fifth place.

Earlier, Harbour Centre got back into the winning as it blasted Bacchus, 81-64, to notch its 13th win against a lone loss, inflicted by Pharex last Saturday.

Leo Losentes fueled San Mig’s fiery third quarter run with a triple as the Coffee Kings broke away from a tight 44-42 count at the break and sat on a 69-54 cushion heading into the final period.

But for the Coffee Kings to clinch the second twice-to-beat bonus in the next round, they would have to pray for a Burger King victory over Pharex tomorrow.

With an 8-6 mark, the Whoppers are assured of a twice-to-beat incentive regardless of the result of their game tomorrow.

Fil-Am Sol Mercado and Jason Castro took over from where Dylan Ababou had left as the two Harbour Centre guards combined for 15 of the team’s 26-point fourth quarter output to anchor the Batang Pier’s victory.

With the team’s top guns struggling to find their rhythm in the first three quarters, the 6-foot-4 Ababou produced his best game in the season-ending tournament as he knocked in 21 points, including eight in the third where the Batang Pier closed the gap at 55-56 going into the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Castro and Mercado then rose to the challenge and starred in Harbour’s decisive 20-0 blitz, scoring seven and six points, respectively, as the Batang Pier  went unassailably ahead, 77-60, with a minute left in the game.