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Source: abs-cbnnews.com

-- Burger King finally halted its skid after taming Coca-Cola, 106-97, for its only second win in the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Wednesday night Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Mark Yee scored a career-high 19 points including back-to-back triples in the pivotal fourth period, sealing the victory for the Whoppers, their first after almost a month.

“Mahirap mag-break ng slump. We were struggling. Our confidence was so slow coming into this game kaya ang target namin tonight is to get that confidence back,” said Burger King head coach Yeng Guiao who also drew 19 markers from Ronjay Buenafe.

“I hope this is a stepping stone to getting back to the fight after the Japeth Aguilar and Wynnie Arboleda incidents. We felt we were affected by that somehow,” he added.

Gary David added 17 points while Beau Belga chipped in 15 for the Whoppers, whose last win came last October 24 at the expense of Rain or Shine in Gingoog City.

Yee exploded in the fourth quarter and his three-pointer put his team to 91-93 while teammate JR Quinahan buried a jumper to tie the count at 93-all.

Yee hit another crucial triple to shatter the deadlock and gave the Whoppers a 96-93 edge with 2:30 remaining.

But the Tigers leaned on veteran Dennis Espino who completed a three-point play off Richard Yee to knot the score for the last time at 96-all, less than two minutes left in the contest.

Buenafe countered with his own trey to give the lead back to the Bert Lina franchise at 99-96. David added two free throws off Norman Gonzales, 101-96, to secure the win.

Burger King led the game early, posting a 21-2 advantage before settling for a 27-11 lead after the first quarter.

Coke, which fell to 1-5, managed to get back behind former Burger King stalwart Marvin Cruz, 20-29.

The Tigers, who could not bring their play inside on Burger King’s tight defense, opted for isolation play and frolicked from outside with Wesley Gonzales, Ken Bono and Francis Allera sinking a triple each.

That gave Coke a 45-44 halftime lead after trailing by as much as 19 in the first quarter.

Alex Cabagnot led the Tigers with 20 points while Espino and Cruz contributed 15 and 12 respectively. Larry Rodriguez and Norman Gonzales each had 11 points for coach Kenneth Duremdes.

Realtors halt own skid

Meanwhile, Sta. Lucia Realty denied Barangay Ginebra the opportunity of getting a share of the lead after scoring a huge 93-72 win to improve its mark to 4-3.

Former Most Valuable Player Kelly Williams fired a game-high 26 points while Ryan Reyes added 17 to lead the charge of the Realtors. Jason Misolas chipped in 12 off the bench for coach Boyet Fernandez.

Eric Menk led the Kings with 14 points while Ronald Tubid and JC Intal had 12 and 10 points respectively.

Ginebra fell to third spot with 5-2 win-loss mark.