The bull-strong guard scored 17 points and had the defensive play of the game in the waning minutes Sunday night, helping Rain or Shine eke out a 92-89 victory over Air21 and into the final game of the wildcard phase at the Araneta Coliseum.
Mercado picked a Wynne Arboleda pass to Ronjay Buenafe and went all the way for a coast-to-coast layup that gave the Elasto Painters a 91-87 lead with 1:43 to play which proved enough buffer for them to live another day.
And he did it with, pardon the play of words, a heavy heart after learning Saturday morning that his father is critically ill in Sacramento, California after suffering a massive heart attack.
It is still not known, though, whether the gravity of the situation would force Mercado to leave the team to be with his father even with their final wildcard game, which will be against Coca-Cola, is scheduled on Wednesday.
“He is very professional,” Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia said in heaping praises on his point guard, who also had seven rebounds, four assists and five steals overall in a 31-minute stint.
“Sol is very dedicated to win the game for the team and his dad. We still don’t know the gravity of the attack. I still have to talk to Sol about it.” Rod Nealy also played big, hitting eight of the Painters’ final 10 points, even as Jeff Chan scattered 24 to lead the squad into the KO game on Wednesday against the Tigers, 100-84 victors over Sta. Lucia in the first game.
Air21 bowed out of the tournament in a somewhat controversial way as import Leroy Hickerson, who has been the most prolific reinforcement ever since he arrived, suddenly went gun shy in the first half to allow Rain or Shine several commanding leads.
But after a pow-wow with coaching staff at halftime, the talented Hickerson came out a different player. After scoring just four points in the first two periods by taking just three attempts, Hickerson rallied the Express with 14 third quarter points.
Air21 even took the lead several times inside the final minute of the third quarter before Hickerson again laid a big fat egg in the fourth to aid the Express’ downfall.
He finished with just 18 points, while Doug Kramer added 17 and Arboleda had 14, 12 of them in the final period which gave the Express a shot at winning it in the end.
Gary David tossed in 32 points and John Williamson had 30 and 14 rebounds earlier for the Tigers, who encountered little resistance from Sta. Lucia in the second half after they got into the groove.
Mark Macapagal added 13 markers and Asi Taulava had nine points that went with a game-high 18 boards as the Tigers proved too much for the Realtors.
Sta. Lucia will bow out of the tournament in eighth spot, and out of the league starting next season after its franchise was already bought by the Manila Electric Company as early as two months ago.
Though team management still would not confirm this, all indications point to the takeover starting next season after Talk ‘N Text, which owns a majority stake of the electric firm, got Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes from the Realtors in a lopsided trade.
Sta. Lucia brought the Great Taste franchise before the start of the 1993 season and made former La Salle ace Jun Limpot as the first pick overall of that year’s Draft.
The team also made a statement of sorts by dealing away Allan Caidic, Vergel Meneses and Bong Hawkins to different teams and building their franchise around Limpot, saying that they did not enter the PBA “to buy a championship.” They won two titles in their 18-year participation, with the first coming in the 2001 Governors Cup with an import named Damien Owens. Their second title came two seasons ago in the Philippine Cup with a team built around Williams and Reyes.
