With Asi Taulava, Nic Belasco and Mark Clemence Telan showing the way, Coca-Cola escaped with a 103-102 double overtime victory over Purefoods Wednesday to finally break into the win-column of the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Belasco scored 10 of his 20 points in the two extensions, while Taulava and Telan each turned in double-doubles that pointed the Tigers to their first win in three tries.
Mark Macapagal also had a big steal and a charity split that would prove to be the marginal point in the final 10.5 seconds of the game as it gave Coke a 103-99 spread that proved to be enough of a cushion.
Favis' sigh of relief, however, only came after Peter June Simon, who went 5-of-6 from the stripe in Purefoods' first two games, failed to complete a rare four-point play that could have tied the game with only eight-tenths of a second left in the second overtime.
Telan then tipped the miss away and the ball was still loose as the final buzzer sounded.
“My hat's off to our three leaders, our bigs. Nothing would work for us in the first half so we pushed our three big buttons and it did wonders for us,” stated Favis.
“Belasco in the end turned garbage into gold, Telan keeps doing what he had to do and Asi, well, is just being the leader he's always been,” he added.
Despite nursing a sore back, James Yap wound up with a game-high 29 points for Purefoods, which dropped its second straight game and is now tied with its conqueror with a 1-2 win-loss slate.
Both coming off the bench, Enrico Villanueva added 24 points and 13 rebounds and Simon 22.
Kerby Raymundo scored nine of his 12 points in the overtimes but misses by him, Villanueva and James Yap, coupled with crucial turnovers by Roger Yap stifled the Giants' bid to bounce back from a 98-111 loss to San Miguel Beer last Friday.
The win was also Coke's first in their last four Philippine Cup meetings with Purefoods, but this one stands out since the Tigers now have the monkey off their backs.
“We knew right from the start that nothing's gonna be easy, but I never imagined it would be this difficult,” gushed Favis after the game that saw them trail by as much as 46-60 in the third quarter.
“This team has continued working hard through adversity and I've always believed that with hard work comes good things. I hope this is a sign of good times ahead,” added Favis.
Taulava had 20 points with 14 rebounds and eight assists, Belasco added seven boards and three feeds and Telan 14 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and a shotblock.
John Arigo added 15 points in his finest game the last two seasons while Macapagal chipped in 13 points, six rebounds and two steals that were almost offset by a foul called against him while trying to avoid the three-point shooting Simon.
Coca-Cola gamely battled back from a 46-60 deficit and actually had chances to win it outright in regulation and first overtime but bungled its chances.
Telan's reverse followup tied the game at 81 in the last 55 seconds of regulation and the first overtime was forced after his off-balanced follow-up of a Taulava miss fell short.
Taulava's tied the game at 91 with two charities in the final 26 seconds of the first extension, and the score stood after he himself missed the potential game-winner before the buzzer. (NCo)
The scores:
Coca-Cola 103 - Taulava 20, Belasco 20, Arigo 15, Telan 14, Macapagal 13, Cabagnot 10, Buenafe 5, Rizada 5, Calimag 1, Baguion 0, Dimaunahan 0.
Purefoods 102 - Yap J. 29, Villanueva 24, Simon 22, Raymundo 12, Aban 7, Yap R. 7, Bugia 1, Lanete 0, Salvador 0.
Quarterscores: 24-20, 30-40, 52-65, 81-81; 91-91; 103-102.
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