Mixers stop Express, face Texters for title

Game tomorrow (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

8 p.m. – Talk n Text vs San Mig Coffee

MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee put the stop on Air21’s breakthrough run in a do-or-die faceoff last night, showing its champion’s heart to hack out an emphatic 99-83 victory and line itself up for an elite showdown with Talk n Text for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown.

The Mixers simply showed the grit that was missing in the last two games, fighting hard possession for possession and defense for defense to dispose of the Express and gain a shot at a third straight championship to the delight of the predominantly San Mig crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The reigning two-conference champs just didn’t give the Express an opening to speed all the way to a first finals.

The Mixers countered the Express’ two-three zone with a box-and-one defense, effectively stopping Wesley Witherspoon two nights after his 32-point explosion the last time.

Offensively, the Mixers cranked up together, pulling away in the second quarter and pummeling the Express all the way to the finish.

In the end, the Mixers proved to be too much for the Express.

And unbeaten top seed Talk n Text now beckons for San Mig Coffee. These elite teams, with their grandslam-winning coaches, start their best-of-five title showdown at 8 p.m. tomorrow also at the Big Dome.

“They have a lot of stuffs going for them, but we’ll see. The bottom line is that despite the past records, including their 13-0 mark in the conference, we’re starting our battle zero-zero,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

James Mays delivered 24 points and 17 rebounds while PJ Simon, James Yap, Mark Barroca and Alex Mallari added double-digit outputs as the Mixers came back strong from their Game Four defeat to the Express and clinched a fifth finals in the last seven conferences.

“Certainly our guys came to play,” said Cone.

“You could see it through our lineup. James (Yap) and PJ (Simon) came out firing, Ping (Marc Pingris) and Rafi (Reavis) came out with their tremendous defense and Big James (Mays) was all over the board,” Cone also said.

“It’s one of the nights when we’re really on, shooting the lights out and playing good defense. The guys clicked while working hard together. It’s a total team effort,” Cone added.

From a 14-13 count, the Mixers unloaded a series of runs to open two 21-point bulges before closing the half at 50-33.

Mark Barroca nailed a one-hander to give San Mig a first double-digit spread at 25-15 then, a little later, Mays, Yap, Alex Mallari, Pingris and Simon teamed up in a vicious 19-7 assault to break the game wide open at 46-25.

The Mixers eased up the pressure only in the last two minutes as Cone pulled out his core players one by one.

Mays piled up double-double numbers right in the opening half with 13 points and 10 rebounds and gunners Yap and Simon added 11 apiece. For Air21, no one scored more than eight in the first 24 minutes of play.

The Mixers took control right away with Pingris setting the tone of their defensive effort on Witherspoon. Taking their turn to make Witherspoon’s life miserable were Reavis and Mallari.

The scores:

San Mig Coffee 99 – Mays 24, Simon 18, Yap 15, Barroca 11, Mallari 10, Devance 7, Pingris 7, Reavis 5, Melton 2, Gaco 0, Sangalang 0, Cawaling 0, Holstein 0.

Air21 83 – Witherspoon 21, Taulava 20, Cardona 13, Yeo 10, Borboran 7, Camson 6, Ramos 3, Villanueva 2, Atkins 1, Poligrates 0, Burtscher 0.

Quarterscores: 21-13, 50-33, 81-58, 99-83