MANILA — How do you win a marathon with one leg? Well, you simply can’t.
Sta. Lucia hardly worked up a sweat in disposing of Purefoods last night, moving to within a victory of claiming the Philippine Cup after an 88-76 plastering of the Tender Juicy Giants in Game 5 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Such was the ease that the Realtors had that the game was all over after they erased an 11-point second quarter lead and then erected an 18-point bubble in the fourth period for a 3-2 series lead. And Ryan Gregorio gave the perfect analogy after the game.
“Playing without James Yap is like running a marathon with one leg,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, who took potshots at the penalty commissioner Sonny Barrios imposed on his prized swingman on Thursday.
“We were once in a situation when we were down 1-3 (against Alaska in the 2006 semifinals). I told my players that if we could bounce back from such a deficit, we can give our best effort to bounce back on Wednesday (Game 6).
“We are not looking at Game 7 at the moment,” Gregorio continued. “Because there will be no Game 7 if we don’t survive Wednesday.” Kelly Williams led the Realtors with 20 points and 16 rebounds even as three others scored in twin digits.
The Realtors bounced back from a 36-25 second quarter deficit when their guns suddenly found their range, turning on the heat from there to race to leads of as many as 71-53 early in the fourth. Kerby Raymundo, who got ganged up on as the only remaining Purefoods hotshot, was good for nine points in the opening half but failed to score in the second and the third quarter which partly aided the Giants’ downfall.
He finished with 20 points and Chico Lanete added 10 off the bench.
Yap, the leading Purefoods scorer with an average of 27.2 points a game in the series, served out his one-game suspension for an infraction committed on Joseph Yeo in Game 3, a decision that has been loudly contested by Purefoods management.
In fact, Rene Pardo, Purefoods’ representative to the league’s board and chairman of the body’s ethics committee, yesterday resigned from the committee to dramatize their complaint and question the “propriety” of Barrios. Pardo learned of a meeting among Barrios and Sta. Lucia owner Exequiel Robles and team manager Buddy Encarnado at noon on Thursday, a few hours before he was to hear Yap’s side and before he rendered his decision. “I don’t see the sense of propriety in the commissioner for doing that,” Pardo told reporters in a hastily-called press conference. Sta. Lucia won the first two games of the series also via big margins. But last night was the easiest of its three victories, as it was clear that Purefoods did not have the arsenal to go toe-to-toe against the Realtors with the Giants’ main go-to guy not even in the gym.
Boyet Fernandez was then asked if he would declare the series over, like in the manner he did when he went 3-2 up against Alaska in the semifinals, the Sta. Lucia coach replied like he was accused of a grave crime.
“No comment,” was all he could say.
