MANILA, 23 April 2007 — For all intents and purposes, Purefoods remain to be James Yap’s team.
The 6-foot-2 gunslinger tossed in 36 points last night, carrying the fight for the Tender Juicy Giants when import Marquin Chandler was ejected, as Purefoods scored a 103-89 upset of defending champions Red Bull in the PBA Fiesta Cup.
Yap scored 21 of his total in the final two periods, his final two triples inside the last five minutes proving to be the back-breakers as they thwarted the last in a series of rallies staged by the Bulls anchored on James Penny.
“My second import (Yap) delivered,” an ecstatic Ryan Gregorio, who snapped a string of two losses, later said.
A frustrated Chandler was made to hit the locker room with the Giants up by only four, 44-40, badly outplayed by James Penny.
Penny had 20 points when the first half ended and was the chief architect of a Red Bull comeback.
And it was a shame that the anticipated matchup ended that way, but it was the exact window Yap needed to shine since he was not around when the Giants lost by a big margin to Air21 in San Juan just four nights ago.
“I just felt that I had to step up with Marquin gone,” Yap told reporters in Filipino. “There was nothing special about today. It just so happened that I was able to play that way when our import was ejected.”
Those 36 points were just a point shy of his career high, chalked up almost a year ago against Barangay Ginebra in the Philippine Cup playoffs.
Peter June Simon also stepped up, contributing 21 points, even as Penny paced the Bulls with 32 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks.
Red Bull dropped to solo second place with an 8-3 card, while Purefoods, which snapped a two-game slide, improved to 4-7.
Meanwhile, Air21 withstood a 38-point explosion by Alex Compton in the first game to hammer out a 102-94 decision of Welcoat and grab a piece of third spot.
Burly import Shawn Daniels tossed in 17 points and had 22 rebounds and 11 assists to complete his second triple double in the tournament and lead the Express to their seventh win in 10 games, good for a tie with idle Alaska.
Compton scattered 38 points — his most in the PBA — built around a 7-of-11 clip from the three-point region. He also had four rebounds, six assists and three steals in undoubtedly his best game to date which sadly went to naught.
More importantly, the win avenged a shock first round loss to the Dragons, who took a fourth straight loss and dropped to the cellar by their lonesome at 2-8.
The tournament plays a regular double-header tomorrow at the Cuneta Astrodome and will take a break on Wednesday for the All-Star break, which travels to San Fernando town in La Union and then to Baguio for the weekend.
Compton, a 6-foot, full-blooded American born in the Philippines who was given a special concession as a second import, said he would rather have scored less but won the game in the end.
“I scored at least 39 in the MBA twice and 38 once in college and all those times we won,” said the 33-year-old, whose shooting beyond the arc went cold in the fourth quarter where three of his four misses came.
Express coach Bo Perasol, who tried all night to stop Compton, said those misses inside the last minute helped them pound out the win.
“It was one of those nights that the goal looked like a hula-hoop for Alex,” said Perasol, whose team got edged out 99-103 in overtime by the Dragons the first time they met last March 30.
Mark Clemence Telan scattered 23 points and finished with a double-double with 11 rebounds, and rookie Arwind Santos wound up with 21 to form a three-sided battering ram with Daniels that Compton almost tore down.
The Express actually blew a 52-66 spread with the Dragons even leading on two occasions, the last at 83-82 after a Rob Sanders basket entering the final 8:38.
Welcoat tied the game for the last time at 89 with two Compton free throws heading into the final five minutes before Telan scored two four points that sandwiched a Gary David basket that put the Express in the lead to stay, 95-89, with just over three minutes left. For a while, it looked like the Dragons were on the way to scoring a repeat of their first round victory, a 103-99 overtime win, when Charles Clark, their original import, fired 40 points and had 21 rebounds. Incidentally, Compton also told reporters that Clark’s injury is being evaluated with coaching staff to make a decision on whether he will rejoin the team after the All-Star break.
