Raymundo, Yap lift Giants past Tigers

The Purefoods Chunkee Giants relied on the scoring outputs of Kerby Raymundo and James Yap as they pulled off a 103-87 victory over the Coca-Cola Tigers in the 2005 San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta Conference last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Raymundo caught fire in the first quarter where he banged in 13 of the 31 points by Purefoods to finish the game with 26 points while Yap made 16 and rookie Jon Dan Salvador contributed 21.

On the other hand, Marquin Chandler finished with 27 points as the Giants improved to 5-1 win-loss record while the Tigers dropped to 1-4.

The Chunkee Giants led all the way, allowing only the Tigers to tie the count three times.

Coca-Cola import Omar Thomas, who was brought here by former Sta. Lucia Realty guard Chris Tan, is obviously still adjusting with his new teammates as well as to the system of coach Binky Favis.

Even the presence of Jonny Abarrientos and some other veterans including John Arigo, William Antonio and Ato Morano in the Tigers camp were not enough to dazzle the Chunkee Giants.

Rookie guard Dennis Miranda from FEU had a brilliant game but his efforts were not enough to bail out the Tigers.