MANILA - Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants struck hard in the third period to pull off a 95-85 win over Rain or Shine and claim the third semifinal slot in the 35th PBA-KFC Philippine Cup before a jampacked crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
James Yap led the Giants with 28 points, including 13 in the third frame, while Kerby Raymundo and Roger Yap combined for 32 points to win the quarterfinal round, 3-2.
Meanwhile, Talk ‘N Text decided to show up and face Ginebra in Game 5 of their own finals late last night.
TNT walked out of Game 4 with only a minute left in the first quarter and the controversy has attracted much attention to the PBA.
Almost 21,166 came to witness the expected pulsating wind-up of the quarterfinals while close to 1,000 were turned away at the gates due to lack of seats.
The TNT Texters created a lot of apprehension in their appearance as it only entered the gates of the Big Dome with only three minutes left in the first game.
Purefoods, who took a 2-0 lead early in the series, will now battle second seed San Miguel Beer in the best-of-seven semifinal round on Wednesday, the two teams’ first semifinal match since the Governor’s Cup in 1997.
“It’s a great relief because we finally hurdled Rain or Shine.
They have young players so it’s hard to stop their running game.
We are lucky to have this victory,” said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregoio.
Gregorio expressed elation over the way his players showed strong determination to win the rubber match, which came after losing Game 4 (100-103) and Game 3 (92-95).