Alex Mallari turned a lot
of heads with his awe-inspiring performance in Game 3 as the San Mig Coffee
Mixers beat the Meralco Bolts to take a 2-1 series lead in the 2013 PBA
Governors’ Cup semifinals.
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| Alex Mallari dropped 23 big ones as the Mixers moved within a win of the Finals. |
Rookie Alex Mallari
probably watched fellow greenhorn June Mar Fajardo drop a career game two
nights ago, so this time he was the one who did it, scoring a career-high 23
points on 9/13 FG shooting to lead the SMC Mixers to a 2-1 series lead against
the Meralco Bolts. Mallari hit a key triple and a slew of free throws in the
waning minutes of Game 3 to move his team within a win of the Govs' Cup Finals
after they won, 94-87.
Was it intentional or not?
That's one of the hot issues that went under the microscope as Meralco import
Mario West sprained his shoulder after getting fouled by SMC's Joe Devance.
Devance and the SMC fans, naturally, insist there was nothing intentional about
it, and that getting injured because of fouls is part of the game, but, on the other
side, Meralco's brain trust isn't about to absorb the issue at face value. At
the very least, this should make things really heated in Game 4.
I love the fact that,
despite West going down, Meralco stuck around till the very end. It shows the
pride the Bolts have as a basketball team, but not even their efforts were
enough to contain SMC import Marqus Blakely, who went to town in West's
absence. Blakely unloaded 21 points, 22 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks, and 3
steals against the hapless Bolts, who will surely need West back in Game 4 if
they are to extend this series to a do-or-die Game 5.
Game Recaps:
SAN MIG COFFEE over MERALCO, 94-87
San Mig Coffee moved one
step away from a return to the Governors’ Cup finals, and the Mixers found a
most unlikely hero in Alex Mallari.
The rookie guard scored a
career-high 23 points, including 13 in the fourth period, to lead his team’s
94-87 win on Friday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“Alex was awesome
tonight,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
The Mixers caught a good
break when Meralco import Mario West left with a right shoulder sprain after a
foul by San Mig Coffee forward Joe Devance.
“We were fortunate that
Mario went out,” said Cone.
Despite playing with an
all-Filipino lineup, the Bolts did not go away. They were still within striking
distance trailing by two points, 81-79, when Mallari hit a three-pointer with
2:38 left.
That touched off a 7-0 run
that gave San Mig Coffee an 88-79 spread with 1:25 remaining.
Four quick points for
Meralco cut the lead to just four points, 88-83. Mallari made both of his free
throws in the next possession to give San Mig Coffee more breathing room.
Mallari almost went from
hero to goat in the next play, fouling John Wilson on a three-point basket.
Wilson completed the four-point play to come within a single possession, 90-87,
with 26.2 seconds left.
But Mallari atoned for it
with two more free throws to ice the game for the Mixers, who took a 2-1
advantage in their best-of-five semis series.
Apart from his offensive
game, Cone heaped praise on Mallari’s performance on defense.
“The best part of Alex’s
game is defense,” said Cone. “People don’t always see it because he’s a rookie,
but he’s such a great defender.”
Import Marqus Blakely also
came up big for San Mig Coffee, stuffing the stat sheeet with 21 points, 22
rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and three steals. He also performed much
better from the free throw line, making 12-of-19 shots from the line.
Mark Barroca and James Yap
added 18 and 13 points, respectively, for San Mig Coffee, which won the battle
of the boards, 55-41, for the first time in the series.
Mike Cortez had 15 points,
eight rebounds, and five assists for Meralco, leading seven players with at
least nine points for the Bolts.
SMC 94 – Mallari 23, Blakely 21, Barroca 18, Yap 13, Devance 7, Pingris 4,
Reavis 4, Acuna 2, Simon 2.
MER 87 – Cortez 15, West 13, Wilson 13, Hodge 11, Hugnatan 11, Dillinger 10,
Salvacion 9, Cardona 3, Reyes 2, Guevarra 0, Ross 0.
QS: 17-22, 44-42, 66-64, 94-87.
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| Marqus Blakely waylaid Meralco after Mario West got injured. |
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| Mike Cortex tried to rally the Bolts, but to no avail. |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game recaps were compressed and
compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Rey Joble)
Images: Images are from InterAKTV. (Photo credit to Paul Ryan Tan)
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