Giants claim historic sweep

MANILA, Philippines - Purefoods completed a fairytale ride in the 2009-2010 KFC Philippine Cup, conquering Alaska Milk in four straight games in their titular duel to nail a record-tying fifth all-Filipino crown before a roaring crowd of over 16,000 at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Giants outfought the Aces in a fierce battle for a fourth game in a row, hacking out an 86-76 victory to end a three-year title drought.

James Yap was named Best Player of the Conference before the game and was later adjudged the Handy Fix Finals MVP as he sustained a superb performance throughout the series, leading the Giants to the dream championship.

It was an improbable conquest of a third-seed playoff team which went all to win the crown, pulling the rug from under the second-ranked San Miguel Beer in the semifinals then stunning the first-seeded Alaska squad in the finals.

The Giants captured a fifth Philippine Cup title in winning their last seven games in the playoffs.

Purefoods distinguished itself as the first team in league history to score a four-game sweep in an all-Filipino tourney, blanking an Alaska team which itself scored a sweep of Barangay Ginebra in the semis.

“Chapter close, destination reached. Now we can celebrate,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.

“It’s not easy at all. The first three games could’ve all gone the other way. It’s a miraculous feat and I’m happy to be part of series,” Gregorio also said.

“We had a roller-coaster ride early on in the tournament. We started on the wrong foot then went up and down. To punctuate it with a seven-game run is incredible. But we did it. We got a very memorable feat,” Gregorio added.

“It’s one of a kind because it’s a sweep. A big credit belongs to our coach. He’s done a good job and we’re all happy,” said Purefoods president Butch Alejo amidst the din of wild victory celebration.

Team governor Rene Pardo said this championship is among the sweetest in their eight titular harvests. Purefoods is now tied with Barangay Ginebra as the fifth winningest ballclub in the league behind San Miguel Beer (with 18 crowns), Crispa (13), Alaska (12) and Toyota (nine).

Yap scored 18 points with his second and last three-pointer, breaking Alaska’s back at 84-76 with time down to 1:34.

Roger Yap, Kerby Raymundo and Rico Maierhofer also put in double-digit outputs, helping Purefoods complete the third four-game sweep in best-of-seven PBA finals.

Northern Cement and Swift Mighty Meaty were the first teams to do the feat, doing it in import-reinforced tourney.

Alaska lost the first three games just by a combined margin of six points. The Aces were beaten convincingly in the final game largely due to their poor free-throw shooting.

The tournament best foul shooting team fouled up from the line in this game, muffing a 15 of 32 tries - their worst in the tourney.