Purefoods spoils expected Alaska-SMB finals party

Purefoods slammed the door on San Miguel Sunday night, 87-78, to arrange a finals showdown with top seed Alaska for the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup title. The Giants jumped the gun on the Beermen and not once did they blink when their embattled opponents made several tries to mount a comeback to clinch the Game 6 win and the semifinals series, 4-2.

Once trailing in the best-of-seven duel, the Giants did the trick by winning the last three games of the semifinals. Coach Ryan Gregorio and the rest of the Giants will barely have a rest as Game 1 of the Finals starts on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum. But the Purefoods mentor and even Roger Yap, who starred for the Giants for the third straight game, could hardly care. "Gusto lang naming manalo, kaya kahit wala ng rest. Tsaka na siguro kapag natapos na ito. Ganyan ang mindset namin once nakapasok kami ng semifinals. Tuluy-tuloy na namin ito," said the Cebu-native guard who topscored for 20 points and had 10 rebounds. "This is a big development for the franchise. We know how tough a team San Miguel is, and how good a coach Siot Tanquingcen is," said Gregorio minutes after the finals-clinching win at the Astrodome. "But maybe, it’s just our will to win that carried us through." The Giants came out roaring to a 22-12 lead in the opening period and then hiked it to its biggest at 48-28 on a Rafi Reavis basket just before the end of the second quarter. They led by 16 at the half. The proud franchise that it is, the Beermen didn’t go out without a fight, cutting the deficit to as many as six several times, the last at 66-72 midway into the payoff period. But Roger Yap hiked back the lead to double digits with a fastbreak basket, before Marc Pingris scored inside to clinch the win for the Giants, 78-67, inside the final two-minute mark. James Yap added 18 for the Giants, Pingris with 15 and Reavis 12 as he held his own against Arwind Santos’ physical plays. A near scuffle between Jay Washington and rookie Rico Maierhofer also ensued with 2:50 left in the third period as the two got entangled with each other while going for a rebound. Maierhofer was slapped with a holding foul, but Washington was whistled for a technical foul after committing a second motion on the Purefoods big man. Roger Yap made the technical free throw for a 62-51 Giants lead. OMG, GMANews.TV