Castillo’s last gasp shot lifts Giants

Noy Castillo banged away the deciding basket on a give-and-go play with Marquin Chandler in the closing seconds as the Purefoods Chunkee Giants squeaked past the Red Bull Barakos, 97-95, to firm up their hold of the lead in the San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

James Yap and Chandler each scored nine straight points in crucial explosions in the fourth quarter but Castillo ended up as the team’s biggest hero as the sweet-shooting guard got away with the game-winning basket with 1.8 seconds left in the clock.

Coming off a time-out with the count tied at 95-all with time down to 4.8 seconds, Purefoods executed a give-and-go play with Castillo making the inbounds then sliding to the left flank where he received the ball from Chandler for an open 15-foot jumper.

Red Bull plotted a catch-and-shoot play in a bid to salvage the game in the dying seconds but Lordy Tugade’s attempt from the right corner missed the target, allowing Purefoods to escape with its eighth win against two losses.

The Giants remained the hottest team in the Xtreme Magic Sing-backed tourney with their seventh win in their last eight outings.

Quemont Greer had another explosive performance with 34 points on top of 10 rebounds and four assists but it went for naught as the Barakos suffered their fifth defeat against the same number of wins.

The Barakos fell behind by eight, 81-89, on a sudden spurt by the Giants but went to Greer, Tugade and rookie Larry Fonacier as they were able to pull even at 95-all.

Greer completed a three-point play off Kerby Raymundo to tie that count with 9.7 ticks to go.

The Barakos then made good use of their last foul before going into penalty-situation as they were able to cut five seconds off the game clock while holding on to the 95-all deadlock.

But just as everybody in the venue thought the game was headed for overtime, Castillo and Chandler conspired for that decisive play for a second straight win following their 94-88 decision over the Coca-Cola Tigers Wednesday.

Actually, Purefoods had a chance to seal the game earlier while having possession and the lead at 95-92 with under a minute left in the clock.

However, Raymundo took a three-pointer that went short, enabling Red Bull to execute a fastbreak play with Greer scoring on a layup and drawing a foul from Raymundo himself.

Coca-Cola outscored Alaska Milk on all quarters and hacked out 86-63 victory in the second game.