MANILA — Late-game heroics from Peter June Simon and Mark Barroca provided the San Mig Coffee Mixers just enough bursts to edge the Meralco Bolts, 88-87, in a Friday night thriller of the PBA Governors' Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. In the nightcap, the GlobalPort Batang Pier stunned the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 113-106 to assure themselves of a slot in the quarterfinals. GlobalPort finished the elimination round with a 4-5 win-loss record while Ginebra fell to a 3-5 card. Simon drilled nine of his conference-high 20 points in the fourth quarter while Barroca scored his team's last four points as the Mixers nailed their sixth win in nine games, thus putting a lock on the No. 2 seeding in the playoffs behind the top seeded Petron Blaze Boosters (8-1). With the loss, Meralco tied Rain or Shine for third to fourth place, both with a 5-4 win-loss card. They will have to wait for the results of the remaining elimination round games which will determine the last two slots in the Final Four that will have the twice-to-beat advantage going into the quarterfinals. San Mig Coffee and Meralco fought tooth and nail for the entire match. With clutch hits from Simon and Barroca, the Mixers erected a five-point lead, 86-81, with 1:08 remaining. After a timeout, Meralco's Mario West missed a jumper off a tight-guarding James Yap. But the Bolts managed to snare the offensive ball which fell into the hands of Sunday Salvacion just behind the three-point arc. The Meralco gunner drained a three-pointer to cut the Mixers' lead to just two, 86-84. San Mig Coffee committed a turnover in the ensuing play, giving Meralco a chance to tie the match. The Bolts again handed the ball to Salvacion who fired another trey. This time he missed. Salvacion finished with six points. A jump ball followed between San Mig Coffee's Rafi Reavis and Meralco's Cliff Hodge with 14.7 seconds left. Reavis won the tip and quickly made a baseball pass to Barroca who sprinted down for an easy layup, padding the Mixers' to four, 88-84. Barroca finished with six points. Meralco refused to surrender though as Mike Cortez zipped down court and buried a three-pointer with 10.7 ticks left, cutting San Mig Coffee's lead to a single point. Cortez finished with just four points. In San Mig Coffee's next possession, Reavis nearly spelled doom for his team as he opted not to call a timeout, hurling another lob pass instead to Marc Pingris. West intercepted the pass and quickly launched a three-point shot. The shot rimmed out as the buzzer sounded as the Mixers heaved a huge collective sigh of relief. Marcus Blakely led the Mixers with 24 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and six blocks. West led all scorers with 31 points. Cliff Hodge added 19 points while John Wilson chipped in 13.
