PBA: San Mig slips up against Meralco minus James Yap

Reynel Hugnatan had 15 points with nine rebounds as the Meralco Bolts posted a victory against the San Mig Coffee Mixers, 87-77, on Sunday at the SM MOA Arena. "We really wanted to put our spirit to the test," said Meralco head coach Ryan Grogorio. "This is the best finish for our young franchise." With the win, the Bolts clinched the fourth seed in the quarterfinals and face the Alaska Aces in a best-of-three series. San Mig Coffee opted to rest James Yap before the quarterfinals as he deals with bone spurs in his foot. They end the elimination round as the second seed and will face Petron in the quarterfinals with a twice-to-beat advantage. In the first quarter, the Bolts leaned on aggressive play from Cliff Hodge and Mark Borboran's inside play and free throws. On the other hand, Mark Pingris hustled beneath the basket to support a limping San Miguel offense with six points as they trailed with three minutes remaining, 13-12. San Miguel made only three field goals in the first period. The Bolts finished the quarter on a 6-3 leg, thanks to easy shots at the rim by Macmac Cardona, Carlo Sharma and Hugnatan to take a four-point lead, 19-15. Scoring picked up in the second quarter as San Miguel began to trade baskets with Meralco. Reserves Mark Barroca and Aldrech Ramos thrived with baskets off offensive rebounds to keep their team in the game, but Sol Mercado had his way in the paint, dropping six points in a mid-quarter rally as his team threatened to pull away, 41-31, with four and a half minutes remaining. However, things swung in San Miguel's way as the half wound down. The driving lanes opened up and Meralco surrendered an 8-4 run, including four by Jerwin Gaco. To make matters worse, Mercado injured his right ankle and had to be walked off the court while his team's lead was trimmed to six, at halftime, 45-39. After the break, Mercado was briefly inserted but eventually had to sit. Ronjay Buenafe picked up the slack for Meralco by drawing contact and making all six of his charities, but Simon and Ramos began to heat up for San Miguel, as they scored 14 of their first 16 points to knot the game halfway through the period, 57-57. However, San Miguel couldn't sustain the run and went on to score just one more field goal till the quarter's end. Meanwhile, Buenafe buried a triple to complement the Bolts' exploits in the paint. Mercado found the hole on a daredevil drive as time expired, putting the exclamation point on an 11-3 run to ward off San Miguel after three quarters, 68-61. In the fourth quarter, San Miguel couldn't find any defensive traction to make a last push for the win. Hugnatan and Cardona combined forces to score 13 in a 15-9 stretch, pushing the lead to 83-71, their widest margin in the game. WIth under four minutes to go, Yancy de Ocampo scored on consecutive trips to help trim the lead down to eight, but San Mig yielded offensive rebounds to the Bolts down the stretch, preventing them from getting more scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, Jay-R Reyes chipped in a pair of buckets in the last three minutes finalized the win for the Bolts. -RAF, GMA News The scores: MERALCO 87 - Cardona 15, Hugnatan 15, Mercado 12, Borboran 9, Buenafe 9, Reyes 8, Sharma 7, Hodge 5, Salvacion 3, Nabong 2, Ross 2, Bulawan 0. SANMIG COFFEE 77 - Simon 19, Ramos 15, Barroca 8, Pingris 8, De Ocampo 8, Gaco 5, Devance 4, Intal 3, Ponferada 2, Villanueva 2, Gonzales 2, Reavis 1, Pacana 0.