MANILA, 15 January 2005 — Kerby Raymundo scored 18 points, including the shot that mattered most, to carry the Purefoods Hotdogs past the Coca-Cola Tigers, 74-71, Wednesday night in the deciding Game 3 of their wildcard duel at the PhilSports Arena.
Their fourth win in five meetings against Coca-Cola this conference rewarded the Hotdogs a quarterfinals berth against the Shell Turbo Chargers in the Gran Matador-Philippine Cup.
Purefoods and Shell begin their best-of-three series at 4:40 p.m. today at the Cuneta Astrodome. The other series between San Miguel and Alaska fires off at 7:30 p.m.
“It was a hell of a game but I have no doubt my players can pull this (win) off,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, visibly overwhelmed by the result.
With the shot clock winding down to three seconds, Raymundo took an eight-footer over Ali Peek that broke a 71-71 count with 26 seconds remaining. On Coke’s possession, the Tigers went to John Arigo, who aggressively attacked the lane.
It turned out to be a bit too aggressive, however, as he shoved defender James Yap for an offensive foul.
Raymundo, who also had 10 rebounds for a double-double effort, sealed the win by closing out scoring a with free throw, time down to 5.7 seconds.
Aside from Raymundo, Purefoods, which shot 39 percent, also got big game from James Yap (14 points), Jun Limpot (12 points) and Noy Castillo (11 points).
Rafi Reavis tallied 16 points and Roberts Wainwright and Arigo chipped in 11 apiece for Coke.
