San Mig Coffee leaned on San Beda standouts Pong Escobal and Sam Ekwe as it stunned four-peat seeking Harbour Centre, 80-72, yesterday to close in on a finals berth in the PBL V-Go Energy Drink Cup at the Rizal Coliseum.
Seeing action only for the second time since being cleared to play by San Beda, Escobal fired 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, while the 6-9 Ekwe powered his way to 16 points and game-highs 15 rebounds and four shotblocks to power the Coffee Kings to a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three semifinal showdown.
“We know that the San Beda boys would be a big help to the team, they proved us right in this game,” said San Mig coach Koy Banal, referring to late additions Escobal, Ekwe and 2007 NCAA Finals MVP Rogemar Menor.
In the second game, Reed Juntilla drained a triple with one-tenth of second left as top seed Hapee Complete Protectors hung tough to edge Toyota Balintawak, 83-80, and likewise move a win away from advancing to the championship.
The Batang Pier, who clinched the second outright semis berth, showed up a little bit rusty following a month-long break since its last pre-quarterfinal round game.
Solomon Mercado, a Fil-Am guard out of Biola U in the US, came away with a game-high 33 points while Rico Maierhofer dished out a double-double job of 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The two, however, failed to draw support from the rest of the squad.
The setback left the Mikee Romero-owned franchise with no choice but to win two straight to stay in the hunt for a rare four-peat feat.
Game 2 is set tomorrow while a decider, if necessary, will be played Sunday at the Rizal Coliseum.
The Coffee Kings seized the initiative in the early going and kept the Batang Pier at bay in the first half as they held on to a 38-37 halftime lead.
They kept their poise at resumption of the contest as Escobal and Ekwe teamed up with Neil Raneses to keep the Coffee Kings’ heads above water Escobal took over in the fourth with that 12-point splurge that took the fight out of the Batang Pier.