MANILA, Philippines - B-Meg braved the “Rain” and stalled the Elasto Painters from wrapping up their first PBA championship.
James Yap did everything he could last night to keep the Llamados’ hopes alive, getting away with incredible jumpers – and a phantom punch – as the Llamados hacked out a 91-81 victory to force a Game Six in the Governors Cup best-of-seven finals.
Before a roaring crowd of over 12,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Yap practically carried the Llamados on his shoulders with a scintillating performance he later dedicated to the memory of former President Cory Aquino on her third death anniversary.
The two-time MVP winner unloaded a personal conference-high of 30 points as the Commissioner’s Cup champs pulled through in a do-or-die game for the fifth straight time in the season and stayed in the hunt for back-to-back championships.
“It’s for Mom Cory,” said Yap of their victory.
Yap went 13-of-23 from the field and hit two triples and finished with two rebounds, two assists and one steal as the Llamados foiled the Elasto Painters’ first attempt at wrapping up the series.
Yap and his teammates try to force a winner-take-all match in Game Six tomorrow.
“Actually, we’re now just trying to enjoy the series. It’s tough when you’re thinking so much. We just focused on tonight’s game,” Yap also said after the bruising encounter marred by couples of flagrant infraction, including his own on a punch he thrown at Jireh Ibanes late in the first period.
But he escaped ejection and was just slapped a flagrant infraction penalty one then went on to deal the Elasto Painters much problem to derail their drive.
Despite the setback, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao remained confident of their date with history.
“Na-delay lang. Pero amin pa rin iyan (Just a minor delay but it’s ours for the taking),” said Guiao.
But he pointed to his wards’ failure to crash the boards that enabled the Llamados to dictate the tempo of the game.
“We’re back to our perennial problem – rebounding. We gave them 24 offensive rebounds and that means 24 extra possessions for them and that’s hard to survive,” said Guiao.
“We know they’re bigger and longer. We have to work harder to get in good rebounding position,” he added.
With Yap on fire and Marcus Blakely and Yancy de Ocampo doing their own thing, the Llamados, for a change, took control most of the way, building huge leads in the final half.
Blakely and De Ocampo got away with double-double numbers, combining for 38 points and 27 rebounds as they helped make up for the absence of Marc Pingris.
Pingris sat out the game due to a stiff neck. B-Meg coach Tim Cone said the energetic forward is 50-50 for Game Six.
Yap rattled in 18 points in the first half, including a triple in the closing seconds giving the Llamados a 44-41 lead at the half.
Yap went 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 6-of-11 from the two-point zone as he broke down RoS’ defenses, enabling B-Meg to lead by seven, 41-34, in the opening half.
But despite their better shooting and better board work, the Llamados couldn’t pull away early.
Yap, Blakely and PJ Simon joined forces as they launched an attack, opening two 14-point leads for B-Meg in the fourth quarter.
The scores:
B-Meg 91 – Yap 30, Blakely 24, De Ocampo 14, Barroca 9, Simon 7, Urbiztondo 2, Villanueva 2, Reavis 2, Gaco 1.
Rain or Shine 81 – Cornley 25, Chan 14, Arana 11, Cruz 8, Ibanes 6, Buenafe 5, Belga 4, Quinahan 4, Tang 2, Rodriguez 2, Norwood 0.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 44-41, 70-61, 91-81
