Purefoods makes it to Magic Four

Leon White played hurt with a bad back and Derrick Brown sat out a long stretch in the final half due to early fouls but these hardly mattered to Purefoods with its local crew taking over to lead the team past Sta. Lucia and into a guaranteed spot in the Magic Four of the PBA Governors Cup eliminations at the Philsports Arena last night.

Alvin Patrimonio, Rey Evangelista and Kerby Raymundo stepped up and pick up the slack as the Hotdogs overcame the Realtors, squeezing out an 87-76 victory that assured them of a twice-to-beat privilege in the quarterfinals.

Purefoods, which bounced back from a 75-89 reversal at the hands of Airfreight 2100/FedEx the last time out, will have a chance at gaining top seeding in the matchup quarterfinals if it beats Red Bull in its final game in the eliminations on Saturday. At the moment, Talk N Text still paces the field with an 8-1 card with Purefoods breathing down its neck at 8-2.

Sta. Lucia moved out of contention for the Top Four as it suffered a fifth loss in 10 outings.

Alaska Milk gained a playoff crack at the quarterfinals as it snapped a two-game losing skein with an 83-55 rout of Shell in the second game.

"My local players are over-achievers. Tonight, with Leon (White) playing hurt and Derrick (Brown) on the bench because of foul trouble, my locals took the cue and turned the game into a locals’ game," said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

The Hotdogs actually played listless at the start, even falling behind by 14 points early on and trailing by 11 at halftime, but came to life and eventually pulled through behind the exploits of their local aces.

Evangelista went 3-of-5 from the three-point area and scored all but one of his 14 points in the final half. Raymundo helped Evangelista fuel Purefoods’ charge in the third quarter by firing seven in the period, then Patrimonio took over in the fourth, hitting seven of his own.

Nursing a 38-49 deficit at the half, the Hotdogs got into the thick of the fight at 50-51 as Raymundo and Evangelista keyed a 12-2 Purefoods opening run in the final half.

Before riding the bench for an eight-minute stretch in the final half, Brown scored on a layup following a steal by Evangelista on Marvin Ortiguerra as Purefoods took its first taste of the lead in the game at 52-51, 4:35 left in the third.

The Realtors managed to force a 61-all deadlock at the end of the period but the Hotdogs unleashed another vicious run at the start of the fourth then hang tough the rest of the way.

Though playing for only 32 minutes, Brown led all scorers with 32 points.