Mixers turn back Texters, reach Final

Game today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

5 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Alaska Milk

MANILA, Philippines - San Mig Coffee fought Talk n Text on even terms through the first 28 minutes then pounced on a slight opening to seize control en route to a 93-87 victory last night that kept the Mixers in the hunt for a rare PBA grand slam championship.

The Mixers, who missed to complete a sweep after taking the first two games of their best-of-five semifinal series, beat out the Texters in their do-or-die fight for a spot in the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors Cup finals before a crowd of over 12,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Mixers thus eased out the Texters in a playoff matchup again and in the process earned a shot at a Governors Cup title repeat and a dream grand slam.

Rain or Shine and Alaska Milk, meanwhile, slug it out in their own sudden death at 5 p.m. today, disputing the right to challenge San Mig Coffee in the best-of-five finale starting Tuesday.

“Our dream is still alive remarkably,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

“It wasn’t the best down-the-stretch game that we had to protect the game. It’s disappointing the way we played but you can’t argue with the result. Frankly, I don’t know how we won it,” Cone also said.

James Yap, Joe Devance, Marc Barroca and Marqus Blakely all came through with big games in a no-tomorrow contest as the Mixers overcame Paul Harris’ 40-point explosion to gain a crack at the Triple Crown following their conquests of Rain or Shine in the Philippine Cup Finals and Talk n Text in the Commissioner’s Cup championship.

Counting their title run in the 2013 Governors Cup, the Mixers are actually chasing a “Four-Peat” versus the Elasto Painters or the Aces.

“One step to go for the grand slam and it’s truly amazing that we’re still here. No time to appreciate things though as either Rain or Shine or Alaska is coming up,” said Cone.

“Rain or Shine is a contra-pelo. We lost to them in the 2012 Governors Cup finals. We also had our history with Alaska. They’re the last grand slam team. It’s poetic, either Rain or Shine-San Mig or Alaska-San Mig is nice to write about,” Cone also said.

The Mixers made a key run to wrest control in the third quarter and held on to make it to a fourth straight finals and 27th in franchise history.

Yap, Devance and Barroca made a big difference with Yap coming through with a team-high 25 points, including five three-pointers, Devance delivering a career-first triple double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and Barroca scoring 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Blakely was in his usual dominating form, firing 21 points and hauling down 16 rebounds. He also made four blocks, two assists and one steal in 43 minutes of action.

Harris fought hard to salvage the game for the Texters, but the Mixers hung tough largely through the efforts of Barroca, Blakely and Yap.

Blakely and PJ Simon nailed a three-pointer each in the crucial run that saw Mixers open the first double-digit spread at 60-50 before closing the third quarter at 62-55.

Then Barroca took over as San Mig Coffee enjoyed 14-point spreads at 69-55, 78-64 and 83-69 in the final canto.

NOTES: Alaska import Henry Walker was assessed a fine of P30,000 for his flagrant foul penalty 2 infraction on Paul Lee in Game Four of the Alaska-RoS series…. From mid-2008 through Thursday night, Rain or Shine and Alaska have evenly split 28 head-on matches.

The scores:

San Mig Coffee 93 – Yap 25, Blakely 21, Barroca 17, Devance 11, Pingris 10, Simon 7, Sanggalang 2, Taha 0, Melton 0, Reavis 0, Hoilstein 0, Mallari 0, Gaco 0, Maliksi 0, Matias 0.

Talk n Text  87 – Harris 40, De Ocampo 13, Castro 11, Seigle 8, Espiritu 7, Fonacier 4, Williams 2, Rob Reyes 2,  Alapag 0, Carey 0, Baclao 0, Canaleta 0, Ryan Reyes 0, Aban 0.

Quarterscores: 21-20; 37-38; 62-55; 93-87