MANILA—Sta. Lucia Realty played a fiery running game in the final half to beat Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants, 88-76, yesterday and took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven championship series of the 33rd Smart-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
So fast and so furious were the Realtors in the final half that they even took a big 18-point lead,71-53, en route to winning game five of the series and moved just a win away from clinching their second conference title and their first All-Filipino Cup crown in the league.
“It’s nice to be back again. We were down in the first half but the spirit of the team was there. We are here in the finals because of our good defense. It was our defense that made us win,” said coach Boyet Fernandez, who steered the Realtors to the finals in just two conferences being a coach.
It was in the third period that the Realtors, who hardly felt the absence of Joseph Yeo due to one-game suspension, made their final move after thrilling at the half by just two points, 37-39.
The sophomore Yeo was meted a fine of P30,000 and one-game suspension for a grave flagrant foul-2 against Noy Castillo in game 3 last Friday, where Purefoods won 118-107.
“I really have to credit our victory tonight to Kelly (Williams), Dennis (Espino), Nelbert (Omolon) and Paolo (Mendoza). Thy really played hard both in our offense and defense,” stressed Fernandez.
Omolon fired 8 points and Dennis Miranda scored 5 to lead the fiery breakaway at the start of the third period, while limiting the Giants to only 11 points. From there the Giants never recovered and could only reduced the gap 7 points twice, the last was 74-81, only 2:13 left in the match.
“Purefoods is really a very strong team. So, we have to prepare for the next game. We can’t say yet we can already win the crown, let us see in the sixth game on Wednesday,” added Fernandez of the Realtors, whose only title so far since joining the league in 1993 was the Governors Cup in 2001
Williams, the conference “Best Player” topscored for the Realtors with 20 points on top of 16 rebounds and two blocks, while the 35-year-old Espino finished with 15 and 14 points for Omolon. (FCC)
