ICTSI-La Salle stays afloat

James Yap exploded with 12 fourth quarter points, including his team’s last nine markers as ICTSI-La Salle turned back Ateneo-Hapee, 82-77, yesterday and kept alive its last strands of hope in the PBL Chairman’s Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

Yap’s endgame heroics sent the Archers to the playoff for the last finals berth against the Blu Detergent Kings tomorrow with the winner advancing to the best-of-five title duel with the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

Yap was the answer the Archers needed in breaking several rallies by the Eagles, including nine points in the final minute when the Eagles tried but failed to steal the game.

Yap’s triple iced a 9-0 blast that cut La Salle’s 66-53 lead to just 66-62. He also buried the crucial shots in the dying seconds when Ateneo shaved its lead to three thrice.

"He just hit the shots that matter to us," said ICTSI-La Salle coach Franz Pumaren.

In the first game, Blu Sun Power found a gem in Lou Gatumbato in the stretch as it edged Kutitap Toothpaste, 73-72, yesterday and moved a step closer to its first finals stint.

The cat-quick Gatumbato sizzled with eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter including two triples, the last giving the Detergent Kings the lead for good.

A triple by Aries Dimaunahan and that long trey ignited a 9-0 blast that turned a 62-67 deficit to a 71-67 lead, an advantage Kutitap tried to overhaul behind Allan Salangsang but to no avail.

Salangsang, running second behind Ateneo de Manila’s Enrico Villanueva in the MVP statistical race, hit a baseline jumper and a triple in a 5-2 splurge late in the game that trimmed Blu’s lead to a hairline, 72-73.

A fifth and final foul by Cyrus Baguio, another MVP contender, sent Tristan Codamon to the foul line for two free throws.

The high-leaping Codamon missed both charities but took his own rebound as Blu secured the crucial win.

Codamon’s offensive rebound in the dying seconds, his 11th of the game, was the Detergent Kings’ 48th, 13 more than the total of the Teeth Sparklers.

Legaspi led Blu with 17 points while Eric Dela Cuesta and Codamon chipped in 15 and 11 markers, respectively, but it was Gatumbato, and the hardworking Calo and Dimaunahan who saved the day for the Detergent Kings, who sealed their 12th win in 19 games.

Kutitap bowed out of the tournament with a 10-9 record.