MANILA: The coming wait couldn’t be more anxiety filled than this one.
Burger King took care of the thing that it had control over last night, dispatching of a James Yap-less Purefoods crew, 96-86 at the Cuneta Astrodome, as the Whoppers now await their fate they don’t have a hand on with two playing dates left in the PBA Fiesta Cup eliminations.
“It is out of our hands right now,” coach Yeng Guiao told reporters afterwards, minutes after the Whoppers climbed into a second place tie with idle Rain or Shine but with no clear picture if they would make the Final Four outright or not.
“All we can do is watch the (remaining) games and wait for the results,” Guiao, also the national team coach, added. “The things we cannot control, we just have to leave them at that. We’re pretty happy with the way we finished after 14 games.”
The Whoppers tallied an 8-6 record but defending champion Barangay Ginebra can overtake them there and put them as far down as the wildcard where the only advantage they will have is a twice-to-beat privilege against a lower-ranked team.
League-leading San Miguel denied Sta. Lucia the chance to join Burger King and Rain or Shine after pounding out a 92-90 decision of the Realtors courtesy of a game-winning layup by new import Christopher Williams in the second game.
The Beermen flew Williams in Saturday night, opting to rest the workhorse Gabriel Freeman for the remainder of their elimination round schedule.
And the well-traveled product of the University of Virginia , who just came off a stint in the Chinese professional league, rewarded coaching staff’s faith in his by hitting the marginal basket with 5.5 seconds left.
San Miguel improved to 11-2, while the Realtors dropped to 7-7 and will play in the wildcard, their seeding to be known after the May 22 double-header at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“We have the luxury (of resting Freeman),” San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen said. “We’re just making sure that we exercise all our options since we made it (to the semifinals) already.
“Unknown to many, Gabe (Freeman) played our last three games with the fever, and we deemed it best to rest him.”
Williams finished with 19 points to pace the Beermen, who were also without big men Dorian Pena and Jay Washington because of varied injuries. Jonas Villanueva chipped in with 13 and Mike Cortez made a triumphant return from a long injury layoff with 11.
Anthony Johnson paced the Realtors with 29 markers, though he missed sending the game into overtime when he muffed a running jumper. It appeared that he was fouled in the final Sta. Lucia play at least twice by Wesley Gonzales, but game officials let it go.
Joseph Yeo added 22 points for the Realtors, who also got 13 from Nelbert Omolon in his second game back after a long bout with chicken pox.
Ginebra has two games left in its schedule, against Alaska and Coca-Cola, and if the Gin Kings prevail on both, they will become the No. 2 qualifier and join sister team San Miguel in the semifinals outright.
Should Ginebra drop one, it will end up tied with the Elasto Painters and the Whoppers. Another team, Talk ‘N Text, could also join them there and create a multiple team logjam that will require the league to break the tie via its own quotient system.
In that case, only the top two teams will be given the right to play in a KO match for the No. 2 slot, leaving the others in the wildcard phase.
Arwind Santos sprinkled his 21-point night with two crucial baskets at the crunch, finally dousing cold water on the last of a series of Purefoods rallies that had the Tender Juicy Giants almost wiping out three 12-point deficits.
The Giants crept within three points a number of times in the fourth period, and were just 82-87 down with 3:50 left when they hit a dry spell that lasted for more than two minutes. Gary David first hit a reverse lay-up that made it a seven-point lead for the Whoppers before Santos drilled in a triple and then a short stab in a one-minute span that sealed the deal for the Beermen, 94-82 going into the final 1:35.
