MANILA — Their vaunted air-tight defense once again saved the day for the San Mig Coffee Mixers. Two defensive gems in the last 9.1 seconds allowed the Mixers to escape with a 93-92 win against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Sunday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Center. After Rain or Shine managed to cut a nine-point San Mig Coffee lead to just a point with less than 10 seconds left, the Painters had two chances of stealing the win but failed to score in the face of the Mixers' unforgiving defense. First, Marc Pingris thwarted a drive by Jeff Chan. The Painters somehow managed to regain possession, but in the next play it was Rafi Reavis' turn to force Beau Belga to miss his shot, thus preserving the win for San Mig Coffee. Their ninth win in 12 games allowed the Mixers to come within a game of clinching a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals as they grabbed the solo second spot in the standings, just behind the pacesetting Talk N Text Tropang Texters (11-2) who have already assured themselves of the advantage. The Mixers could gain the same with a win against also-ran Globalport Friday or against Meralco Sunday. Rain or Shine relinquished its bid for the No. 2 seeding as it slid to solo third with an 8-5 win-loss card. PJ Simon came off the bench to lead the Mixers' offense with 24 points. Joe Devance contributed 20 to make up for the sub-par game of their top gunner James Yap who only managed to score nine points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field. Chan topscored for the Painters with 21 points while Ron Matias had 18. The win allowed San Mig Coffee to avenge its bitter loss against Rain or Shine in their first meeting wherein the Mixers also led in double-digits only to collapse in the endgame. In the first match of the Sunday double-header, the Barako Bull Energy Cola stunned the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 83-79, to snap a four-game losing streak and move into a tie with idle Air21 Express (4-9) for the eighth and final quarterfinals slot. In contrast, the loss halted the Kings' five-game winning run as Ginebra joined Alaska and Meralco at fourth to sixth spot, all a 7-6 card. This time around, the never-say-die spirit deserted the Kings as they failed to overhaul the 11-point lead built by the Barako Bull at the start of the fourth quarter. It was Barako Bull's first win under new head coach Bong Ramos.
