Charities save day for Realtors in Davao

Sta. Lucia Realty banked on crucial charities in the homestretch in repulsing Purefoods, 69-66, in a road game in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Panabo City Sports and Cultural Center in Panabo City, Davao del Norte last night.

In a rematch between the title protagonists in this tourney last year, the Realtors fended off the Giants’ fourth-quarter charge on combined 9-of-9 charities by Ryan Reyes, Joseph Yeo and Kelly Williams in the last 1:25 of play.

The Realtors overcame a brief slump in the payoff period to tie the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at fourth place on their identical 2-1 win-loss records.

The Giants, on the other hand, suffered a second straight loss and slid to joint seventh place with the Air21 Express and the Coca-Cola Tigers at 1-3.

Reyes, the 2008 Rookie of the Year awardee, scored a team-high 15 points, including five charities down the stretch. He also grabbed seven rebounds and issued four assists.

The Realtors lost a 58-46 lead but Reyes stopped the bleeding with three charities off a regular foul plus a technical infraction by Roger Yap to push Sta. Lucia back on top at 63-61.

Pressure on the Giants mounted when Marlou Aquino put up a good defense on Rico Villanueva, then Yeo had his own charities to make it 65-61 for the Realtors with a minute left to play.

The Giants got a chance to pull even as Kerby Raymundo scored off Aquino, then the Realtors committed a 24-second shot clock violation.

The Realtors, however, came through with another defensive stop, prompting the Giants to give up a quick foul sending Williams to the line to make it 67-63 with just 11 seconds to go.

A desperation trey by James Yap drew Purefoods within one at 66-67 before Reyes pegged the count at 69-66 on two more foul shots with 4.3 ticks left.

With no more timeout left, the Giants could no longer map out a decent play for a game-tying shot.

It was another sorry loss for the Giants, who were just beaten by the Coca-Cola Tigers in a double-overtime contest.

Going for naught was Raymundo’s game-high 19-point output.

Peter June Simon added 16 points while playing before his provincemates.  

Melvin Mamaclay rifled in a triple fresh off the bench, igniting a 13-4 closing run that gave the Realtors a 33-25 lead in the first half.

For a starter, Reyes had a long heave beating the shot-clock buzzer.

The Giants, however, scored 15 of the next 17 points, gaining an early double-digit spread before settling for a 15-11 lead at the end of the opening period.