MANILA — James Yap provided the perfect swan song for a short hiatus.
The Purefoods gunslinger tossed in 32 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter last night that keyed a 106-98 Purefoods victory for a 2-2 tie with Sta. Lucia in their best-of-seven series for the Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Yap made sure that he would be able to come back at least for another game of these Finals as he will sit out tomorrow’s crucial fifth game to serve a suspension for nailing Joseph Yeo with a clothesline in the waning second of Game 3.
It was a league decision that obviously fired up the Tender Juicy Giants, who lost a 10-point halftime lead and had to rally from an eight-point deficit late in the third period to pound out their second straight win.
“Games are won on the basketball court, never in the boardroom,” said Purefoods’ Ryan Gregorio.
“There were a lot of distractions before this game and the celebrations (for winning Game 4), I’m sure won’t be long.”
Gregorio added that Purefoods management has filed an appeal to the league’s board to suspend the implementation of Yap ‘s suspension.
“It’s tough to even think about it right now (Yap being suspended on Sunday).” The Giants held the Realtors scoreless for a 5:22 span bridging the third and fourth quarters to overhaul an 80-88 deficit and zoom to a 91-88 lead which they never relinquished.
Sta. Lucia crept to within 92-93 after a Kelly Williams triple with 6:53 left and the Realtors actually had a chance to forge ahead after Nelbert Omolon leveled the score for the last time at 95 with 2:55 left.
But a maze of errors did the Realtors in, as Yap first hit two from the stripe after Williams threw the ball out of bounds in the previous Sta. Lucia offensive for 97-95 with 2:03 to go.
Joseph Yeo, who was hit by Yap with a clothesline in Game 3 which resulted in the Purefoods hotshot’s suspension, was thrown out himself in the dying seconds for going after Noy Castillo’s head with a closed fist.
Getting thrown out could mean an automatic suspension for Yeo. The Giants wrote their conference high production in a half for the second straight night with Raymundo scoring 15 points and James Yap 14 of their 61 points in the first two periods.
Their 10-point first half lead also duplicated a similar spread which they first enjoyed in the first few minutes of the series opener, when the Giants jumped to a 12-2 lead only to falter and lose in an ugly way.
Gregorio again went to an unlikely starting unit that had Ardy Larong and rookie Chico Laneta, electing to have Roger Yap and Marc Pingris come off the bench.
Gregorio also got to pace Raymundo and Yap in the first half, playing them for only a total of 35 minutes. Simon again came off the bench and was like a microwave, shooting six straight points in his first three minutes to finish with 13 after two periods.
Williams, who won the Best Player of the Conference award in very simple rites earlier, played for 21 minutes and shot nine points in the first half as the Realtors were led by Marlou Aquino with 11 in that stretch. The 6-foot-7 Detroit native thus became the first ever Realtor to win the coveted award. “It’s a great honor to win the award,” Williams said prior to the start of last night’s crucial Game 4. “There are a lot of great players out there, and to just be included (as a candidate) is already an honor in itself.”
Purefoods almost lost Raymundo to technical fouls late in the first period, when he wildly protested an offensive foul slapped against him with 2:58 left.
