Loss of Kerby is too much.

The Purefoods TJ Giants had proven it can hold on even without PJ Simon and Roger Yap. However, the loss of the team captain, Kerby Raymundo, is something too much for the team to handle.

Alaska won against the depleted lineup of Purefoods, 95-80, to stretch its winning streak to three regain solo league leadership in this conference.

“You take away LA, Sonny and Joe, and it would also be so difficult for Willie. They lost a lot minus Simon, Yap and Kerby. It’s really very difficult for them to compete with the lineup they had,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

Even the coach was impressed with the team's energy at the beginning of the game. Yet, he was quite confident that they'll be able wear the Giants down.

And they did as Alaska closed out its stint in the first round of the elims with a 7-2 win-loss card.The Giants came out strong but faded out quickly with Raymundo joining Simon and Yap out in sickbay. The Aces coach admitted that they were not aware that Kerby’s out until about six minutes of the game and when they did, they concentrated on guarding James Yap who actually had 2 straight games with 30 plus points. Beau Belga, the rookie, led the Giants with 16 points.

starting units:
  • Purefoods -- Beau Belga, James Yap, Topex Robinson, Rico Villanueva, Richard Alonzo
  • Alaska -- Joe Devance, Sonny Thoss, LA Tenorio, Willie Miller, Tony de la Cruz.

top scorers per team:
  • Alaska – Devance 20, Fonacier 16, Thoss 14, Ferriols 11, Tenorio 10,
  • Purefoods – Belga 16, Yap 16, Villanueva 12, Bugia 8, Salvador 6


** note: this is an editted post from pba.ph **

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