It was just any other day in everyone else's life, probably. But for James Yap and the Purefoods Squad, it was the opposite of an ordinary day. It was a huge win for them against the Barakos and it was won the hard way. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the wonderful first meeting on the 8th of October live and the second meeting was not boring either. PF enjoyed a good time with an 11 point lead with about 7 minutes remaining. Sadly, they went scoreless for about 3 minutes and the Barakos woke up from slumber. They had completed a 13-0 run and led by 2.
James Yap, a born 3-point shooter, led his team to a 10-0 run which removed RB's hopes of winning. He had a game-high 27 points, having shot 11 field goals out of 16 attempts which includes 5 out of 8 from rainbow country. Kerby Raymundo, who just came from sickbay, and Enrico Villanueva had 14 points while former RB player Topex Robinson had 4 assists and 4 steals.
It was Gabby Espinas who stepped up for RB. He had a career-high 21 points while his teammate, Larry Rodriguez, chipped in 12 points for the Barakos who now have a win-loss card of 4-5.
Both teams played badly in the game's first half. Poor shooting and a combined 25 turnovers from both sides were the half's features.PF shot 34% from the field while RB shot 35%. PF finished the game with 25 errors overall, one more than RB.
Purefoods Team Coach Ryan Gregorio said that it is hard for his team's depleted line up to play efficiently. PJ Simon and Roger Yap are still out on sickbay as of the moment.
Scores:
Purefoods 80
Yap J. 28, Villanueva 14, Raymundo 14, Alvarez 8, Robinson 5, Bugia 4, Belga 2, Lanete 2, Salvador 2, Aban 1
Red Bull 72
Espinas 21, Rodriguez 12, Duncil 7, Chan 6, Ybanez 6, Sharma 5, Cruz 5, Baguio 5, Hrabak 3, Hubalde 2, Najorda 0
Quarterscores:
20-9, 31-31, 57-51, 80-72.
