Purefoods ends slide, clips Coca-Cola in Fiesta Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Purefoods parried Coca-Cola’s late charge and posted an 89-80 win Thursday night, finally putting an end to its losing woes in the Motolite-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig. Kerby Raymundo and Enrico Villanueva scored big baskets inside the final two-minute mark that kept at bay a Tigers side that rallied from as much as a 15-point deficit. Raymundo hit a three-pointer that beat the shotclock with 47 seconds left, virtually sealing the outcome of the game, 84-77, and notching for the Giants only their first win in the team’s last four games. They are now 3-3 overall as they arrested a three-game slide. Jahmar Thorpe led Purefoods with 22 points before fouling out late in the game. James Yap added 16 while Peter June Simon had 14. The loss was the fourth straight for the Tigers (1-4) and spoiled new import James Penny’s comeback. Penny paced the team with 26 markers. With Penny and Nic Belasco taking charge, Coca-Cola overhauled a 15-point deficit to close within 79-76 in the final 1:48 seconds. But Villanueva scored on a hard drive 20 seconds later to stretch back the lead to five, before the Tigers threatened for the last time at 81-77 on Penny’s split charity. The Giants led by as many as 77-62 early in the final quarter behind the hot hands of Roger Yap, Simon and Thorpe. KG Canaleta brought the house down early in the second period when he scored on an alley hoop dunk off a perfect feed by Thorpe, stretching Purefoods’ lead to 29-21. But the Tigers answered back thru Alex Cabagnot, who fired 10 straight points that tied the score at 31. The Giants went on and settled for a 39-36 halftime lead as James Yap scored four of his 11 points and combined with Thorpe and Don Allado at the offensive end. The Giants appeared ready to pull away from the Tigers at the onset, scoring the game’s first nine points. But Mark Macapagal broke the ice for Coke by scoring three straight triples to close the gap at 13-9. – GMANews.TV