INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—Alaska made sure that Purefoods won’t have a shot at winning this one.

The Aces, taking quite a long time to get going, outplayed the Tender Juicy Giants, 95-80, Sunday night to regain the solo lead in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Alaska trailed early but broke away in the second quarter to clinch a third straight win and seventh in nine games as the Giants missed yet another key player in Kerby Raymundo.

Raymundo was rushed to the hospital early Sunday because of severe diarrhea, and the Aces made the most out of his absence by ganging up on James Yap and choking the entire Purefoods offense starting in the second period.

The Giants dropped to 4-5 after getting no chance, like in their last two games, of stealing victories with clutch end-game jumpers.

Joe Devance scored 20 points, Larry Fonacier contributed 16 and the Aces still won handily despite just seven points from Willie Miller, who was rested in the fourth quarter.

“They’re missing key players, and that takes a lot out of your lineup,” said coach Tim Cone, referring to the Giants who were already without sixth man Peter June Simon and starting point guard Roger Yap.

“We were down early but I told my team to just be patient because we knew we were going to wear them down,” he added. “We put our concentration on giving James (Yap) a tough night with Kerby not there.”

In the first game, Kelly Williams scored 17 points to go with 18 rebounds as Sta. Lucia Realty eked out an 83-80 victory over Red Bull to end the Realtors’ three-game slide.

His two free throws in the final 1:27 gave the Realtors an 80-77 lead before Dennis Espino hit a basket with 49.5 left to secure the defending champions’ fourth win in eight games.

“Everyone stepped up with Ryan (Reyes) out,” said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez. “At least we stopped our skid. It was tough losing three straight games.”

Espino went on to finish with 16 points and Paolo Mendoza filled in well for Reyes by tossing in 14 as the Realtors gained some positive feeling going into their next match against Rain or Shine on Friday.

Reyes, the top rookie last season, missed a second straight outing because of back spasms.

The scores:

First Game

STA. LUCIA 83—Williams 17, Espino 16, Mendoza 14, Omolon 9, Gonzales 8, Aquino 6, Yeo 4, Jaime 3, Gregorio 2, Coronel 2, Miranda 2, Daa 0.

RED BULL 80—Espinas 20, Chan 15, Baguio 13, Sharma 10, Rodiguez 5, Hubalde 4, Duncil 3, Ybanez 3, Hrabak 3, Najorda 2, Cruz 2, Membrere 0.

Quarters: 14-24, 37-48, 60-65, 83-80

Second Game

ALASKA 95—De Vance 20, Fonacier 16, Thoss 14, Ferriols 11, Tenorio 10, Cariaso 9, Miller 7, Sotto 4, Dela Cruz 4, Dela Pena 0, Borboran 0.

PUREFOODS 80—Belga 16, Yap J. 16, Villanueva 13, Robinson 12, Bugia 8, Salvador 6, Lanete 4, Fernandez 3, Alonzo 2, Aban 0, Alvarez 0.

Quarters: 15-23, 46-31, 75-52, 95-80