San Mig finally off the hump

MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee, struggling minus injured key players, relied on the breaks to finally nail a first win in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup, outlasting Air21, 92-83, in a stretched-out double-overtime faceoff at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.

With Asi Taulava and Vic Manuel already out on fouls, the Mixers pounced on the Express at the paint in second overtime and eventually pulled through after dropping all their first three games in the tourney.

Later in the night, Rain or Shine, behind an efficient, well-balanced game, stopped the erstwhile unbeaten Barako Bull side, 91-83.

TY Tang, Jeff Chan, Beau Belga and Jervy Cruz got the team to a good start, then practically all the players tapped in by coach Yeng Guiao provided sustaining effort as the Elasto Painters rebounded from a loss to the Barangay Ginebra Kings the last time out.

Rain or Shine improved to solo third at 3-1 while relegating Barako Bull to joint fourth place with Talk n Text at 2-1.

The E-Painters and the Mixers shared the spotlight at the start of the December stretch of the long double-round elims phase.

“We like the win. It gets us back on track and we beat a team that’s not been beaten yet,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.

“We don’t care whether it’s an ugly win or a beautiful win, we just need to come out with a win,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone, relieved they have gotten over the hump.

“We’ll take any win and we’ll try to keep ourselves going,” Cone also said.

Rookie Ian Sangalang scored eight of his 14 points when there’s no more Taulava to guard him and Mark Barroca attacked the lane bravely when the Fil-Tongan behemoth was no longer there as Air21’s last line of defense.

Severely punished by Sangalang and Barroca in the second OT, the Express went down with a fourth loss in as many outings.

The Express, with trade acquisition Mac Cardona finally in harness, took the early initiative, set the pace most of the way. and had a chance to win the game in regulation while holding possession in the last five seconds.

In a timeout, Taulava requested coach Franz Pumaren for a play where he would seal his defender underneath the basket for the last shot. The Express, however, failed to execute the play, and the game went into OT at 69-all.

Air21 forced the second extra period as KG Canaleta made three pressure-packed charities with three-tenths of a second left. The slam-dunking forward went to the stripe for the game-tying freebies as he drew a foul from Rafi Reavis while taking a three-pointer.

The second OT had just started when Taulava was called for his sixth and last foul on Marc Pingris.

Worn-out and sans Taulava, Air21 faded away and was left as the only team without a single win in the tourney.

The Mixers scored all the first eight points in the second extension period – all inside the paint.