MANILA, Philippines - Prolific Barako Bull import Michael Singletary erupted for 38 points, including 6-of-6 three-pointers only to commit one big booboo in the closing seconds allowing San Mig Coffee to escape with an 81-77 decision and clinch the second spot in the PBA Governors Cup playoff phase at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
San Mig Coffee beat Barako Bull in a duel of spurts for a fourth straight win and fifth in eight games overall that also guaranteed the Mixers of a playoff shot at a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
The Energy Cola engaged the Mixers in a thrilling seesawing battle, yielding in the end on a critical lapse by Singletary.
Barako Bull was running a play to force overtime when Singletary, without pressure from defender Marcus Blakely, curiously lost the ball to the sideline. He dribbled off his foot and the ball flew out of bounds.
Desperately fouled by Singletary himself, Allein Maliksi coolly sank the charities for the final count in the showdown between teams chasing automatic slot in the quarters.
With a second straight loss, Barako instead slid down to fifth place at 4-4.
“I knew going to this game, this is gonna be a tough one for us. It’s a danger game. Luckily, we caught up and got them to a drought at endgame,†said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
“Barako is a well-coached team, and I told the guys this is gonna be a hard game, much harder than we thought. You have to find a way to pull it out, and somehow they did,†Cone added.
Mac Baracael drew a crucial foul while taking a trey and canned in the three charities with three-tenths of a second left as Barangay Ginebra salvaged a 101-100 win over Rain or Shine to tie Alaska Milk and Globalport at sixth place at 3-4 later in the night.
“We’re lucky to pull it off. We’re lucky the refs called a foul,†said Ginebra coach Ato Agustin on the controversial game the Rain or Shine management placed under protest.