MANILA, Philippines - Purefoods picked up from where it left off Wednesday and beat San Miguel Beer, 94-82 to gain a crucial 3-2 lead in their KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Giants seized control early, sat on a 13-point halftime cushion and sustained the surge throughout to move within a win of a series upset of the powerhouse SMB team.
As in Game Four, Purefoods starters James Yap, Kerby Raymundo, Roger Yap, Rafi Reavis and Marc Pingris all came through with impressive performances, powering the Giants to the win that sent them to the threshold of a second all-Filipino Finals in three years.
A win in Game Six tomorrow or in Game Seven Wednesday will make Purefoods a surprise finalist versus Alaska Milk.
“We’re very much aware that it takes four games to win a series. So in as much as we won Game Five, there’s still no reason for us to celebrate,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.
“We know how capable San Miguel is. We’ll stick with the game plan of buckling down on defense and making it hard for them to score. I think that’s the best way to have a chance to beat a mighty opponent,” Gregorio added.
The two Yaps, Raymundo, Reavis and Pingris delivered huge numbers and Niño Cañaleta, and Rico Maierhofer took their turns in this game to play key roles coming off the bench.
“Our starters are really getting the job done but they just couldn’t play 48 minutes. Niño Cañaleta, after being benched in Game Three, came in today and became the x-factor,” said Gregorio.
Purefoods took the half at 49-36 on the strong start by James Yap and Raymundo and the team kept the momentum in the third quarter with Cañaleta firing 10 points.
Raymundo and the two Yaps scored at least 17 each and they were there helping the team close out the game.
“Definitely, we like where we are at this point. But we’ll not celebrate until we get that fourth win,” said Gregorio.
The Beermen reeled to a second straight loss as they were again beaten in shooting and rebounding.
James Yap and Raymundo started strong with both hitting double-figure outputs right in the opening half that ended in their favor at 49-36.
The Giants torched the Beermen with a 62.5-percent shooting in the second period, enabling them to carry a 13-point spread over into the final half.
Curiously, the Giants had a poor 33.3 percent shooting as against the Beermen’s 54.5 percent clip in the first quarter.
Dondon Hontiveros made nine points on perfect shooting in the first quarter but was held down to two the rest of the way.
Source: Nelson Beltran | Philstar.com
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