Mixers continue surge, shut down door on Express

MANILA, Philippines -- San Mig Coffee closed the quarterfinals door on Air21 as the Mixers repeated over the Express, 67-60, in the Petron Blaze-sponsored PBA Saturday Special at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Two-time MVP winner James Yap was again out due to back spasm but PJ Simon, Marc Barroca and Yancy de Ocampo ably carried the fight for San Mig as they scored a follow-up on their key win over Barangay Ginebra Sunday and caught up with Barako Bull and Meralco at fifth place at 5-7.

“Any win at this time is a pretty win. It’s a struggle without James (Yap) but anything for us in the win column is beautiful,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

“I don’t think we’re peaking. We’re not shooting well from the three-point distance. But I told the players we just want to get better little by little. The key for us is to get there,” Cone also said.

The Mixers enhanced their bid for a spot in the best-of-three quarterfinals series with their fourth win in their last six games.

Meanwhile, Air21, languishing in the cellar all tournament long, moved out of contention for the post elims play after suffering a 10th loss against three wins.

It’s obvious the San Mig Coffee coaching staff did a good job preparing the Mixers for this game with Cone on a whirlwind trip to the US to scout for a future import.

Asi Taulava, the ageless Air21 center averaging double-double numbers, was held to five points.

Yancy de Ocampo more than held his own against Taulava, collecting 12 points and the same number of rebounds.

Simon topscored for the team with 20 markers while Barroca saved his best for last, firing all of his 11 buckets in the payoff period.

NOTES: PBA commissioner Chito Salud said he’ll review the Jared Dillinger-Calvin Abueva fracas in the Alaska-Meralco game Friday to determine the sufficiency of the technical fouls assessed the two players. “If the penalties given on court are found to be proportionate to the acts in question, then I will consider the matter closed. Otherwise, I will invite the players involved to hear their side and thereafter mete out the commensurate sanctions,” said Salud.