Barroca redeems self with game-winner to lift Mixers over Kings

MANILA, Philippines – Joe Devance capped a solid all-around performance with a big steal and Mark Barroca made his lone field-goal basket in the most opportune moment as San Mig Coffee eked out an 85-83 thriller of win over Barangay Ginebra in Game One of their PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal faceoff at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Tuesday night.

With the count tied at 83-all with 32 ticks left, Devance deflected Mac Baracael’s inbound, giving San Mig Coffee crucial possession which Barroca nailed on a runner off LA Tenorio with 11.6 seconds to go.

With no more timeout left, Tenorio took a harried 3-pointer that missed the target, and the Mixers all but wrapped up the series head start with Marc Pingris snaring the defensive rebound.

“That can’t get any better than that,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone of the classic match.

“No one got far enough from anybody and we’re just able to escape with the win,” Cone also said.

Devance and Yancy de Ocampo stood their ground against the vaunted Ginebra Twin Tower of Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter, and rookie Justin Melton again played quality minutes as the Mixers engaged the Kings in a nip-and-tuck battle before prevailing at the finish.

Curiously, the Mixers pulled through even with top guns James Yap and PJ Simon riding the bench at crunch time.

Cone stuck with Barroca though missing all his first seven field-goal attempts.

Barroca helped the team escape in the end as he shattered the 83-all count with his lone bucket in the contest.

Devance led all scorers with 20 points with De Ocampo adding nine markers as against the 24-point combined output of Aguilar and Slaughter. 

San Mig Coffee played catch-up basketball most of the first half but zoomed ahead, 43-40, at the turn on a 12-3 closing run.

The Mixers drew even at 40-all on a three-pointer by Joe Devance and moved up front on a drive then a split from the line by James Yap.

Devance converted all three 3-point attempts and went six-of-seven overall from the field as he made 15 points right in the first 24 minutes of play.

PJ Simon, Yap, Yancy de Ocampo and Marc Pingris combined for 23 as the San Mig starters outscored their Ginebra counterparts by 10 in the opening half.

LA Tenorio and Mark Caguioa helped Ginebra to a good start, 12-5, but had to sit out precious minutes as both picked up three early fouls.

Caguioa was limited to nine minutes in the first half where he made four points against two turnovers and three quick fouls.

Tenorio had just returned from a rest in the second quarter when he drew back-to-back infractions, prompting coach Ato Agustin to sit him out again.

But Greg Slaughter connected on a short jumper, Mac Baracael drained a trey and Japeth Aguilar canned in two foul shots in a seven-to-nothing third-quarter start pushing the Kings back in the lead at 47-43.

The Kings stretched that lead to 60-51 before settling for a 65-57 cushion at the end of the third.