Blue-chip Yap outshines Realtors

Purefoods Chunkee drew a career high from James Yap as it smothered Sta. Lucia Realty, 104-88, last night to open its campaign on a high note in the 2006 Gran Matador Brandy PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

Yap exploded for 34 points in an awesome display of shooting where he made all but two of his 12 attempts from the field and went on to erase his previous best of 30 points he scored in the Giants’ 90-91 loss to the FedEx Express in Malolos, Bulacan last year.

"James Yap played his best game as a PBA player," said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio. "He’s responded to the challenge, he was really magnificent in this game."

But it wasn’t an all-Yap show.

Purefoods also drew big games from big men Kerby Raymundo, Marc Pingris and Jun Limpot, who combined 47 points, as the Giants outscored the Realtors, 20-9, in the second quarter, sat on a 49-33 cushion at the turn and never looked back.

Raymundo, who lost in a close three-player MVP race won by Red Bull’s Rico Villanueva in the recent Fiesta Conference, dished out a solid double-double performance with 18 points and 14 rebounds. He also had five assists and one shot block.

"We’re one of the smallest teams in the league right now so we emphasized quickness. We were the quicker team, and the quicker team won in this game," said Gregorio, whose wards lost the Fiesta Cup crown to the Red Bull side.

Already in control going into the final half, the Giants proved unforgiving at resumption of the contest, burying the Realtors at 87-62 when Paul Artadi fed Noy Castillo for a wide-open basket early in the final quarter.

It was a stroll from there.

The victory was Purefoods’ fourth straight to start a conference while Sta. Lucia dropped its fifth consecutive opening game.

The Giants broke loose by outscoring the Realtors in the second quarter, 20-9, to turn a shaky 29-24 lead to a 49-33 advantage at the break.

Limpot spearheaded that onslaught with an eight-point splurge while Yap provided the outside firepower by going two-of-two from behind the arc during that stretch as the Realtors never recovered from that big Purefoods blitz.