MANILA, 4 February 2006 — Redemption came swift for Roger Yap. The hard-working Purefoods guard missed a triple double by just two assists last night and led the Chunkee Giants to a 90-79 victory over Air21 for the first finals seat in the PBA Fiesta Cup.
Just two nights after his crucial endgame blunder cost the Giants Game 5 Yap atoned himself by coming up with 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight feeds that catapulted Purefoods to its first title series appearance since 2002.
It was a Yap triple that cooled off a hot rally by the Express from 20 points down, draining one from way out with the game entering the final two minutes for an 83-78 edge that proved enough to close the best-of-seven series, 4-2.
“I worked extra hard because my coach (Ryan Gregorio) showed me so much trust despite the Game 5 error,” Yap said in Filipino.
The Giants would have been in the best-ofseven title series as early as Wednesday night had Yap not lost possession while wide open underneath in the dying seconds of a 99-100 loss. He personally apologized for that miscue to some of Purefoods’ loyal fans at ringside before the game while making promises that he would do better last night. Yap actually outdid himself.
Purefoods clashes with the winner of the Barangay Ginebra-Red Bull series, which will have a deciding seventh game tomorrow after the Gin Kings posted an 85-77 decision in the first game.
Marquin Chandler led Purefoods with 24 points, 12 of them coming in the second period when the Giants assumed complete command by holding the Express to only eight points and 39 for the first two periods.
A total of six players, including all five starters, contributed 10 or more for Gregorio, whose defensive ploy effectively limited Air21 top gun Ren-Ren Ritualo to just 14 points and the usually reliable Shawn Daniels to nine.
Eric Menk tossed in 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 35 minutes and Chris Porter scattered 24 points and reset the conference mark in boards with 30 to lead the Kings.
Menk averaged just seven points in Ginebra’s three losses in the series and 22 in the three victories and this batch of Kings can pull off a repeat that only one team - Robert Jaworski’s 1991 First Conference squad - has achieved in the past.
A team bannered by super import Jarvis “The Burning” Coles came back from a similar 1-3 deficit to beat Shell in the Finals, a series that was capped by a magical Rudy Distrito fallaway that actually helped build the charismatic Ginebra mystique.
The Barako made only six points in the second period and just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting from the floor in the fourth, and numbers like those won’t be enough to beat a team as determined as the Kings.
Those six points tied an all-time franchise low, which happened back in 2000 against Shell. Enrico Villanueva finished with 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Red Bull, which got little help from returning James Penny, who went scoreless in the last 10 minutes and had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
