Two prestigious individual awards made for the icing of a hard-earned victory cake Wednesday night as Yap dropped 18 points — seven of them in the most crucial times of the fourth period — to help Purefoods complete a sweep of Alaska, 86-76, for the PBA Philippine Cup title before a virtual sea of humanity at the Araneta Coliseum.
“Of course I am happy,” Yap told reporters in Filipino, a few moments after accepting the Best Player of Conference award in simple ceremonies preceding Game 4. “But more than anything, I would like the team to win the championship, so that everyone would be happy.”
He backed up every word he said with a fourth quarter performance to remember as he can now toast the individual accolades he won with his teammates who helped him a great deal.
“We achieved our goal (of winning the championship),” added Yap, who was later named the Finals MVP by the PBA Press Corps. “I am doubly happy now because me and my teammates have the biggest reason (being champions) to celebrate.”
Purefoods actually lost a 13-point second quarter lead to trail by four at the onset of the third.
The game was close from there as the game Aces fought with everything they had, coming within 65-68 entering the final 8:11 after a basket by Reynel Hugnatan.
And then Yap stepped up and closed the door shut on Alaska.
The 2006 MVP first scored on a lay-up and then a curling 18-foot jumper before Roger Yap capped the short spurt with a jumper inside the keyhole to make it 75-65 with under five minutes remaining.
Alaska threatened for the last time at 76-81 after a Willie Miller triple with 2:15 to go but James Yap swiftly answered back with the three-pointer of the night – a sliding beauty that beat the 24-second shot clock – at the final 1:48 mark that broke the Aces’ collective backs.
The win made for just the third sweep of a best-of-seven title series and just the fourth in league history counting the 4-0 romp of Barangay Ginebra by Alaska in this tournament’s Final Four stage.
More importantly, the Purefoods caper became just the first best-of-seven sweep in an all-Filipino title series and it tied the Tender Juicy Giants with the legendary Crispa Redmanizers for the all-time mark of five AFC titles won.
“Chapter closed. Destination reached. Mission accomplished. Now we can celebrate,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio, who won his second AFC title, told reporters. “This is not easy at all (going 4-0). The first three games could have gone either way.
“Definitely, this is a miraculous ride for us,” Gregorio said. “We never talked about a sweep. We just wanted to compete and make this a close series. We were supposed to be tired for this series. But our determination to survive cannot be described in words.
“That’s what prayers can do.”
There were also a lot of Game 4 heroes for Purefoods, like energetic rookie Rico Maierhofer, who scored nine of his 12 points in the third period to help quell several Alaska rallies in that quarter.
Roger Yap finished with 16 points and Kerby Raymundo had 13 with Marc Pingris finishing with nine, seven rebounds and a lot of hustle that helped keep Miller in check for most of the night.
Alaska also dug its own grave by missing seven free throws in a key stretch in the third period. The Aces, the best free throw-shooting team in the tournament, missed a total of 15 freebies for the contest – their most in any game this season.
LA Tenorio had 11 points, Miller 17, six rebounds and four assists with Sonny Thoss leading all Alaska scorers with 19 points and 12 boards.
The import-flavored Fiesta Cup opens March 21, also at the Big Dome in Cubao.
