The Giants held the Whoppers to just 6 points in the last six minutes of the game to foil the latter’s comeback. The win ended Purefoods’ two-game losing skid for a 9-6 win-loss mark.
Kerby Raymundo led all scorers with 19 points while James Yap added 17 but Purefoods needed Rico Maierhofer’s defensive tenacity early in the fourth period to thwart the rally of Burger King.
“Coming into this game, we knew we can’t just challenge Burger King to a shootout and we made sure we had to buckle down on defense,” said Giants head coach Ryan Gregorio who also drew 12 markers from Don Allado.
“And limiting them to just 74 points is good defense. Our defense has been going south and it will play a key role in upcoming games,” he added.
Maierhofer finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and one block. His lone rejection came at the right time when the Whoppers started building momentum, threatening to erase Purefoods’s 15-point lead with less than 10 minutes left in the contest.
Former Giants center Richard Yee spearheaded Burger King’s blistering 13-0 run to slice the double-digit spread to just two, 68-70 with 6:15 left.
Raymundo ended Purefoods’ scoring drought with a follow-up shot on Roger Yap’s missed drive and Maierhofer drew an offensive foul from Mark Yee and denied Belga’s lay-up in the next two possessions of the Whoppers.
Maierhofer’s key defensive gems resulted to the Giants’ own 11-2 burst to put the game out of reach, 83-70, 2:14 remaining.
Belga led Burger King with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks while Gary David added 14 but was ejected in the game for throwing an elbow on the head of Mairhofer late in the game.
Yee chipped in 10 markers for the Whoppers, who dropped to 5-10 with the loss.
Kings reign on Christmas Day
Barangay Ginebra ended Coca-Cola’s magical run with a 106-97 victory to pace with the league leaders for at least the automatic quarterfinal seat.
JC Intal scored a career-high 20 points including two thundering slams in the fourth quarter that highlighted the Kings’ onslaught that broke the game wide open.
Ronald Tubid added 18 points while Willy Wilson chipped in 16 and 11 rebounds for Ginebra, which snapped a two-game losing streak to tie Purefoods at fourth spot with 9-6 mark.
“JC has the potential because of his athletic ability. Kulang lang talaga sa kanya ‘yung knowledge and understanding of the game and it comes through with the experience,” said Ginebra head coach Jong Uichico.
Cyrus Baguio also hit in double figures with 14 points for the Kings. Celino Cruz and Enrico Villanueva each had 11 points for Ginebra while Billy Mamaril added 10.
Dennis Espino led the Tigers with 21 points। Asi Taulava contributed 17 points and 16 rebounds for Coke, which fell to 3-12.
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