Express continue to amaze, left Mixers in daze

MANILA, Philippines -- After a first triumph in a post-elims game then completing a shocking reversal of second seed San Miguel Beer in the quarters, Air21 stretched its breakthrough run by stunning two-conference champ San Mig Coffee, 103-100, in the opener of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Four showdown at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Tuesday night.

Second-string forward Sean Anthony matched a career-best 29 points, leading another gutsy stand by the Express resulting to a first win over the Mixers in the season.

Wesley Witherspoon, Asi Taulava and Joseph Yeo also came through with sterling jobs as the Express stayed perfect in the playoffs, with a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five semis in the next game on Thursday over at the Big Dome.

“We’re actually here just to seize the moment being an invited guest in the Final Four. Our concern is just to play what we’re capable of playing, and we’re okay,” said Air21 coach Franz Pumaren.

“But the guys are putting in real amazing effort. We just didn’t want to quit,” Pumaren also said. “Many times during the course of the game, we went down by eight points and nine points. But we regrouped, stayed in the course and didn’t run away from what we wanted to do.”

Down by eight, 66-74, at the start of the fourth, the Express worked on an incredible run to turn the game around, 93-87, entering the last two minutes of the game.

It obviously helped the Express that James Yap came out flat, making only three points, and James Mays struggled for only 14 points in the first three quarters and poured the bulk of his output when Air21 had pulled away in the game.

Mays fired away 12 points in the final minute as the Mixers made it a three-point game in the end.

“San Mig Coffee is tired coming from an extended championship series in the Philippine Cup and another tough three-game series in the quarters against Alaska,” said Pumaren.

“But all we’ve got is a small step in the series. Again, it’s tough to play San Mig Coffee. They have got rich tradition and championship pedigree,” Pumaren added.

After playing catch-up basketball most of the way, the Express grabbed the upper hand at 59-58 on a triple by Witherspoon midway through the third.

Pushing the ball in every opportunity, the Mixers led by nine points once at 48-39 in the second half.

The Express cut their deficit to a more manageable level at the half, 48-51, as Anthony made a three-pointer just before the buzzer.

Picking up where he left off in their quarters series versus San Miguel Beer, Anthony piled up 16 points just in the first two quarters on 4-of-5 triples and 2-of-3 twinners.

The Mixers dominated the first half, though, on a 58.3-percent shooting as against the Express’ 48.7-percent clip.

In giving Witherspoon a brief relief late in the second period, Eric Camson got entangled in a rugged fight for position with Mays. Asi Taulava got into the picture, engaging Mays in a heated exchange of words resulting to a double-technical foul on the Air21 behemoth and the San Mig import.

NOTES: Jeff Cariaso, though still working on the San Mig Coffee bench as Tim Cone’s chief assistant, is reportedly to start running Barangay Ginebra’s practice Monday. Another San Mig assistant coach moving over to Ginebra is Olsen Racela.