MANILA, 6 November 2006 — A game watched by an overflow crowd which came to see the stars shine saw an unpopular result brought about by the players of the less-heralded kind.
Richard Yee and Roger Yap came up with the big plays and keyed an 88-84 Purefoods victory over Barangay Ginebra last night in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations that drew its second largest crowd which rooted for the ultra-popular Gin Kings all the way.
Yee paced the Chunkee Giants with 21 points and Yap hit two crucial free throws with the clock winding down as the defending champions came from behind and won for the fourth time in their last five games for 5-4 overall and solo fourth place.
The Araneta Coliseum was filled with 16,103 fans, just a few shy of the opening day figure which also backed the Kings against newcomer Welcoat on Oct. 1. And most of them left disappointed after the Giants did what they had to do to win and the Kings, who fell to third place with a 5-3 slate, muffed their chances of turning the game around.
Eric Menk, held to just 10 points by the stifling Purefoods defense in the interior, flubbed a potential game-tying three-pointer with 8.2 seconds left, paving the way for a Kerby Raymundo split that pegged the final count.
But before that, the game was knotted for the final time at 84 with 45 seconds left after Menk nailed a baby hook.
Yap then shook off Jayjay Helterbrand in the next Purefoods offensive and scored off a collapsing Menk and 6-foot-7 Rafi Reavis going into the final 24 seconds which put the Giants in the lead to stay.
Meanwhile, after everything else has failed, Alaska coach Tim Cone departed from an old practice just to get things done.
Showing up to coach an official game for the first time in 18 years without a tie, Cone may have found some luck after all after his Alaska Aces mangled Air21, 122-100, for their first win in six games.
Jeffrey Cariaso led the Aces with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists and the entire starting unit finished in twin digits for Alaska , which blew a 3-1 semifinal series lead against eventual champion Purefoods the last time up.
The Aces broke away in the second period with Cariaso and Willie Miller on the firing end as a 51-32 lead proved too much for the game Express, which played its second game without Ronald Tubid, to overhaul.
It was a loss that put to waste an outstanding effort on both ends for Ranidel de Ocampo, who wound up with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Miller, a former winner of the Most Valuable Player award, finished with 22 points and 10 assists for Cone.
Nic Belasco had 17 markers, starting center Sonny Thoss 13 and Tony dela Cruz 10 for the Aces, the pre-season champs who found life tough with cornerstone Mike Cortez out for the rest of the year because of a severe knee injury.
