THE Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants wrapped up the PBA finals series with an 86-76 win over the Alaska Aces in Game 4 to complete their sweep and bag the Philippine Cup title.
Purefoods’ seventh straight win in the post season also handed Alaska its second straight runner-up finish in the conference.
Conference MVP James Yap led the assault and finished with 20 points. He also came up with the big plays down the stretch to stop an Alaska comeback.
After taking a 40-30 lead late in the second, Purefoods allowed Alaska to come back and level the match at 40 going into halftime.
Alaska managed to get the lead early in the third, 44-40, but James Yap and Rico Maierhofer started a 17-4 run to stretch the gap to 57-48.
The Aces rarely got clear shots at the basket and when they did, they missed it. Their free throw woes also kept them from getting back in the game as they missed five straight in the third.
Alaska got close 68-63 early in the fourth but James Yap and Raffi Reaves put the lead back at 77-67 with less than four minutes to go.
Larry Fonacier and Willie Miller got Alaska within five at 81-76 with two minutes to go but couldn’t follow through.
Miller got called for an offensive foul as he was going to the basket in the next play and Roger Yap scored on the other end to make it 86-76.