INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?Burger King lost coach Yeng Guiao to ejection early, but then came storming back from 13 points down to nip Rain or Shine, 101-99, Sunday in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The Whoppers snapped a two-game losing spell with a fourth-quarter performance to remember.

Ronjay Buenafe had two great defensive plays in the crunch while tying the game at 99 with a layup before Gary David hit two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to give the Whoppers their fourth win in 11 games.

Rain or Shine (3-11) blew its bid for a third straight win despite erecting a 92-79 lead with 7:26 left.

?Hopefully, we could sustain this performance because we are in the bottom half of the standings,? Junel Baculi, the Burger King assistant, who called the shots from the final 7:44 of the second quarter after Guiao was thrown out for bad-mouthing referee Throngy Aldaba.

?The only difference might have been the shuffling of players; otherwise, we played the system of coach Yeng,? Baculi added in Filipino. ?The plays and the systems were all Yeng?s, and of course, credit should go to the players for refusing to lose.?

Rain or Shine was nursing a 99-97 lead and had possession with 48 seconds to go when Buenafe stole off Gabe Norwood and went all the way to tie the game.

David then capped the Whoppers? 22-7 closing run with two free throws after Ryan Araña failed to give the Painters the upper hand when he got bottled up in the shaded lane by a Burger King triple team.

Jeff Chan, who gave the Painters their last lead of the game, had the chance to at least tie the game but his three-point attempt was smothered by Buenafe as the buzzer sounded.

Mark Yee led the Whoppers with a career-high 21 points built around an 8-for-11 clip from the floor.

Norwood had a career night offensively with 25 points while Jay-R Reyes had 21 points and Mike Hrabak 19 for Rain or Shine.

The scores:

BURGER KING 101?Yee M. 21, David 17, Quinahan 16, Belga 12, Sharma 10, Buenafe 9, Lanete 6, Matias 5, Billones 3, Williams 2, Yee R. 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 99?Norwood 25, Reyes 21, Hrabak 19, Arana 10, Chan 9, Telan 5, Cruz 4, Tang 4, Ibanes 2, Arellano 0.

Quarters: 29-26, 50-50, 77-81, 101-99