MANILA: Yeng Guiao will still have some basketball business to attend to once he returns from national duty in two weeks.
The fiery Philippine Team coach, on the eve of departing for Indonesia, last night steered his Burger King Whoppers to a masterful 94-81 conquest of Sta. Lucia which made sure that the two quarterfinal series in the Fiesta Cup will go the distance at the Araneta Coliseum.
Earlier, Marquin Chandler hit two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to lead Purefoods to an 84-82 victory that enabled the Tender Juicy Giants to also square their best-of-three series with Rain or Shine. Burger King and Guiao faced elimination after absorbing a lopsided loss in their series opener on Sunday. But last night was a very different story as far as his squad was concerned, as they took control early and never looked back the rest of the way.
Reserve point guard Egay Billones scored 17 of his 19 points in the fourth period and rookie swingman Mark Yee chipped in with 17 on 7-of-11 shooting from the field to lead the Whoppers, who came into this series as the favorites.
Billones made all three of his three-point attempts, all three of his two-point tries and missed just two of six free throws awarded him in a 21-minute stint off the bench. Shawn Daniels had 12 points and 24 big boards for the Whoppers.
The Whoppers also played great defense on Sta. Lucia top gun Anthony Johnson, whom they limited to just 21 points.
“We wanted this really badly,” Guiao said during the customary winning coach’s interview.
It will be double knockout on June 14, as these four teams again take the floor, a 10-day break for the battered stars of the teams as the Philippine squad plays four games in Indonesia to qualify for the Fiba-Asia tilt. The team, which Guiao handles, leaves for Medan via Singapore this afternoon, and the Filipinos, once they arrive there, are overwhelming favorites to rip all opposition in Indonesia by virtue of sheer talent that the PBA will take there.
Meanwhile, Chandler , who finished with 25 points and engineered an early Purefoods breakaway that had the Giants taking leads of as many as 24, also played good defense after making the marginal free throws, bothering Rob Wainwright’s potential game-tying jumper at the buzzer to preserve the victory. “The moment he stepped inside the three-point line I was confident we will win,” said Purefoods’ coach Ryan Gregorio of Wainwright’s shot.
Purefoods now has tied the best-of-3 series at 1-1, and will again go through another elimination game on June 14 after the league takes a 10-day break to give way to the Powerade-Team Pilipinas’ stint in the SEABA Championships in Medan , Indonesia from June 6-10.
And Gregorio hopes that the break would be ample time for him to address the problems his team had with regard to complacency.
“We have a tendency to relax,” Gregorio said. “We have to check the character of this team. It may not be like this always and it might be too late the next time. We closed our eyes for a minute and we lost a 24-point lead.”
