Giants gain outright semis berth

James Yap erupted for a game-high 27 points while Kerby Raymundo hauled down 18 rebounds and the same number of points as Purefoods repeated over Sta. Lucia, 84-75, to gain outright entry into the San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta
Cup semifinals at the Astrodome last night.

With import Marquin Chandler firing up the rest of the team, the Giants bounced back from two successive defeats and jacked up their front-running win-loss card to 10-5.

The Giants assured themselves of a slot in the semifinals with the help of the Red Bull Barakos, who whipped the Air21 Express,91-85, later in the night.

The Red Bull locals more than made up for the struggling performance of import Quemont Greer as the Barakos also repeated over the Express for their eighth win in 15 games. The Express slid to 7-7.

The Realtors slid deeper down the chart on their ninth loss in 15 outings. Sta. Lucia is now in danger of finishing dead last in the nine-team field after the classification phase of the tourney.

"James Yap stood out for us tonight but the real key was the teamwork we showed in this game," said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

"We had a talk with our import two days ago. We told him that he can’t do it alone and he agreed to take the backseat tonight, allowing the locals to get involved in our game," Gregorio added.

Chandler took fewer attempts this time but managed to come up with significant numbers with 16 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and four assists in a no-relief performance. Five other Giants played sterling roles as they repeated their 106-90 rout of the Realtors last Nov. 4.

Roger Yap contributed nine points, eight assists and six rebounds, Jondan Salvador chipped in 12 rebounds and eight points while Marc Pingris added eight rebounds and four points.

Damien Owens scored 22 points but failed to get the needed support from his local teammates.

Alex Cabagnot was the biggest flop among the Realtors as the Fil-Am guard struggled on 0-of-13 shooting from the field.

The Realtors actually came up with a decisive run to move within a point of the Giants at 63-64 at the onset of the last quarter.

However, the Giants countered with a 13-3 binge as Purefoods erected another huge spread at 77-66 entering the last four minutes of play.