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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Giants win stalls Aces’ finals march
Purefods lives to fight another day as the Chunkee Giants stomped the Alaska Aces yesterday, 85-74, in Game 5 of their best-of-seven semifinals series in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The victory by the Giants cuts the Aces’ series lead to 3-2, forcing a Game 6 tomorrow. The win also prevented the Aces from securing an appearance in the finals, since it lost to the Coca-Cola Tigers in the Finals of the 2002 All-Filipino Conference.
When Alaska coach Tim Cone said in their Game 4 victory that there’s no reason for his wards to celebrate yet, he was right, as the Giants of coach Ryan Gregorio fought back to snatch the foul-ridden Game 5.
With Purefoods big men Jun Limpot and Kerby Raymundo hounded by foul trouble in the opening half of the game, the Giants resorted to a smaller lineup to escape from an otherwise closely fought match in the first three quarters.
Just fine after the fine
The Aces, behind Mike Cortes, raced to a 23-19 edge at the end of the opening quarter.
Purefoods, however, managed to equalize the count at 38-all at the bend.
In the nightcap, Red Bull looked just fine after getting heavily fined by the PBA as the Barakos moved a win away from the finals.
The Barakos held off the San Miguel Beermen, 107-101, in Game 5 to erect a 3-2 lead in their own seven-game series.
Second-half breakaway
Red Bull earlier was slapped a P400,000 fine for leaving the court in Game 4, while coach Yeng Guiao was meted a P100,000 penalty for instigating the coup.
Larry Fonacier, Lordy Tugade and Enrico Villanueva took turns in delivering the goods for Red Bull, and the Barakos slowly pulled away in the second half en route to the crucial win that gave them a pivotal lead.
“We used Sunday’s incident as a rallying point. We had to use that as the focal point of our desire and motivation,” said Guiao.(JSV with PBA media bureau
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 29, 2006 issue)
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