Source: ABS-CBN News
-- Purefoods Tender Juicy crawled back from 14 points down in the last 5:29 to stun Alaska, 86-85, in Game 2 of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup finals and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 championship series Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
James Yap and Kerby Raymundo spearheaded the Giants’ uprising in the final 5 and 1/2 minutes to complete their miraculous win and move to two wins of claiming their 5th All-Filipino crown.
Yap had a season-high 32 points, 12 came in the fourth, while Raymundo had 6 of the team’s last 8 points in the last 1:21 including the game-winning free throw.
“We really fought hard to come back. We did not give up. We just kept on playing and got the chance to win in the end,” said Purefoods head coach Ryan Gregorio.
“We were so determined to win this game. We did not give up until the final buzzer,” he added.
With LA Tenorio and Brandon Cablay connecting their treys, Alaska zoomed to a 78-64 spread before the Giants staged the rally behind their two superstars.
Purefoods unloaded a 19-6 run capped by Raymundo’s two free throws on the final foul of Sonny Thoss to push the Giants within one, 83-84, 51.5 seconds left in the game.
Reynel Hugnatan turned the ball over in the next Aces possession and Yap gave Purefoods the lead with two free throws on Joe Devance’s foul, 85-84, 14.3 ticks remaining.
Devance knotted the score at 85-all on his split free throws, 5.6 seconds in the game clock before Raymundo was fouled by Devance in the next play, 1.7 seconds left.
Raymundo made the first and intentionally missed the second to deny Alaska a clear look for a last-second heave.
Aces head coach Tim Cone vehemently protested on the last call by referee Maui Maurillo on Devance and confronted the game officials after the final buzzer.
“Purefoods is sad tonight because they don’t want to win that way,” said Aces team manager Joaqui Trillo. “I think they don’t like that victory because it was given to them on a silver platter,” he added.
But for Gregorio, the referees were just consistent in the game.
“There was a contact and if you are batting for consistency, there should be a call because they’ve been calling that since the first quarter,” said Gregorio.
Rafi Reavis added 17 points and 7 rebounds for Purefoods in 41 minutes of action.
Tenorio led the Aces with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Devance and Willie Miller each had 12 for the Uytengsu franchis, which will try to avoid a 0-3 hole with a win on Sunday.
No team in the PBA history has able to erase that deficit and win the best-of-7 series.
“Definitely we are happy but there’s no reason to be satisfied,” said Gregorio.
Friday, February 26, 2010
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