MANILA, Philippines - Burger King bucked the ouster of its coach and overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit as it turned back Rain or Shine, 101-99, last night in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Big Dome.
Mark Yee churned out a career-best 21-point output, including 12 in the fourth quarter while Gary David scattered 17 points, including a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds to go that sealed the Whoppers’ come-from-behind victory.
In the second game, Purefoods rode on a big fourth quarter run to beat an injury-riddled Barangay Ginebra, 89-81, to force a three-way tie for third with Talk n Text and its victim at 7-4 (win-loss) slates.
Ronjay Buenafe turned to his defense when his offense began to sputter, frustrating Fil-Am Gabe Norwood and Ryan Arana and then foiling a potential game-winning triple by Jeff Chan at the buzzer to secure Burger King’s fourth win against seven defeats.
What made the victory impressive was that the Whoppers did it without coach Yeng Guiao, who was tossed out early in the second quarter after incurring a pair of technical fouls.
Junel Baculi, Guiao’s lead assistant, said they just followed the game plan of their fiery head coach.
“We just applied the same system used by coach Yeng, we didn’t deviate from it,” said Baculi.
“But I have to give credit to the players, they just refused to lose,” he said.
Norwood fired 25 points, including 10 in the third quarter when the Elasto Painters seized control while Jay-R Reyes added 21 points but faded down the stretch after scoring nine early in the fourth that gave Rain or Shine a 13-point lead.
The loss snapped the Elasto Painters’ two-game win run, with Rain or Shine slipping to 3-8 record.
In contrast, Burger King bounced back from their losses to San Miguel, 85-100, last week and to Talk N’ Text, 105-118, last Nov. 27.
It was also the Whoppers’ second victory over the Elasto Painters this conference as the former also edged the latter, 91-89, in an out-of-town duel in Gingoog City last Oct. 24.
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