Pingris, Yap lift Giants over Aces

Marc Pingris started it all in the first half then James Yap finished the job in the second as Purefoods walloped Alaska Milk, 91-73, to gain a piece of second place with idle San Miguel Beer in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Pingris poured in all of his 15 points in the first 24 minutes of play while Yap tossed in 18 of his game-high 22 points in the next 24 minutes to power the Giants to their second straight win following a 66-88 setback at the hands of the Talk n Text Phone Pals in Hong Kong last week.

"Our loss to Talk n Text tickled our pride. That humiliation is the reason why just at the onset, we’re already playing with so much focus," said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

Just like in their 73-56 rout of the Barangay Ginebra Kings Wednesday, the Giants were all business throughout the contest in pulling off their third win in five starts in the season-ending All-Filipino tourney.

While Purefoods caught up with San Miguel at second, Alaska slid to fourth place with a 3-3 win-loss record.

"Our defense held up and we played solid defense from start to finish. Offensively, Pingris started everything for us then James Yap got into the rhythm in the second half," said Gregorio.

Curiously, the 6-foot-4 Pingris delivered huge numbers coming off the bench, and the entire Purefoods reserve crew outscored their Alaska counterpart, 37-21.

Bench scoring was 27-6 in favor of Purefoods in the first half which ended with the Giants sitting on a 46-34 cushion.

Yap took over in the third period, scattering 12 points, and the Giants enjoyed 18-point spreads before settling for a 70-54 margin going into the final quarter.

The Giants just refused to relax as they went on to complete the convincing victory.

Kerby Raymundo missed what could have been a fifth straight double-double game as he tallied only 14 points and seven rebounds. Eugene Tejada, coming off a career best game against Ginebra with 16 points, had a decent showing with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Giants shot well from the field, converting 50.7 percent of their shots as against the Aces’ 38.6-percent clip. The two teams were about even in the other fronts of the game.

Harvey Carey unravelled a perfect game in the first half and his Talk n Text teammates took over in the second as the Phone Pals stopped the Coca-Cola Tigers, 100-82, on their tracks in the second game.

Carey went 8-of-8 from the field and 1-of-1 at the stripe in the first 24 minutes for 17 points.

Raymundo thought their back-to-back wins against Ginebra and Purefoods could serve them in good stead in their keenly awaited match with Red Bull Friday.

"We’re excited with our rematch with Red Bull. They’re tall, quick and could be the toughest team in the league right now. But we love our matchup with them," said Gregorio.