MANILA, 9 March 2006 — Explosive swingmen had super scoring nights as Purefoods and Barangay Ginebra served notice that the PBA Philippine Cup is not for the big men alone.
James Yap had a career-high night and led the Chunkee Giants to a 104-88 demolition of tall Sta. Lucia and Mark Caguioa scattered 39 points last night after missing just six shots in a 98-81 victory by the Gin Kings over Talk ‘N Text.
Yap dropped 34 points built around a 10-of-12 clip from the floor and Purefoods, runner-up in the Fiesta Conference last month, showed up the stratospheric Realtors and joined opening day winners Coca-Cola and Alaska at 1-0.
“James Yap played the best game of his PBA career,” said beaming Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio. “He’s responded to the challenge to score more for us. He was really magnificent tonight.”
The Purefoods defense also clicked, as it held the Realtors to only nine second quarter points that transformed a 29-24 first quarter lead into a 49-33 advantage going to the halftime break.
Gregorio, like the other coaches in the field, has asked a particular player in his roster, in his case Yap, to be offense-minded, the tournament being without reinforcements.
And Yap and the rest of the Giants did not show any ill effects of a heart-rending loss to Red Bull in Game 7 of the Fiesta Conference Finals just a couple of weeks back, coming out strong and finishing with conviction even with less than a week of practice.
“The good thing is I know the boys want to redeem themselves,” Gregorio added. “There’s no use crying over spilt milk, as they say. This is an entirely different tournament.”
Kerby Raymundo was solid for Gregorio, finishing with 18 points, 14 rebounds and five assists even as veteran Jun Limpot and Marc Pingris combined for another 29.
Dennis Espino led the Realtors with 31 markers and Chester Tolomia, recalled from the amateur ranks last year, tossed in 15 with Kenneth Duremdes adding 13.
The biggest disappointment for the Realtors was Marlou Aquino, who was good for only two points last night.
So in synch were the Giants that they built leads of as many as 25 points in the second half, the last at 87-62 when Paul Artadi found an open Noy Castillo for a wide-open jumper early in the fourth quarter.
A little piece of history said that Purefoods has won its fourth straight game to open a tournament, while the Realtors have dropped their fifth straight debut game.
Caguioa was hot as he could get and the Phone Pals never figured him out the entire night as the Kings won this one with a lot left in the tank to make it a four-way tie at the top.
