San Mig Coffee comes with a twice-to-beat advantage against Rain or Shine

The San Mig Coffee Mixers tightened its grip on second place in the Philippine ciup standings, but not before surviving a scare from the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 93-92, Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.


It was the ninth win in 12 games for the Mixers, who had to make two crucial defensive stops in the last nine seconds to come away with the victory.

San Mig Coffee squandered a double-digit fourth quarter lead against Rain or Shine, which also rallied from a big deficit to win in the two teams’ first meeting.

The Mixers were still up four points, 93-89, with 11.5 seconds when Marc Pingris fouled Jeff Chan from beyond the arc. The Rain or Shine sharpshooter made all three of his free throws, before the Elasto Painters forced a turnover on Peter June Simon, the game’s top scorer with 24 points.

That gave the Elasto Painters two final chances to win the game, but Pingris foiled an attempt by Chan before Rafi Reavis forced Beau Belga into a miss.

With the win, San Mig Coffee moved a game and a half clear of Rain or Shine for second place, which comes with it a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. The Elasto Painters’ win-loss record dropped to 8-5.