Giants stop Aces in first road win

Purefoods struggled three-fourths of the way but came up with a strong finishing kick to beat Alaska Milk, 69-64, in their out-of-town tussle in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Capiz Gymnasium in Roxas City, Capiz last night.

The Chunkee Giants whipped up a storm at endgame behind a resolute defense and a transition offensive game for its first win on the road in this all-Filipino tourney. They suffered a numbing 66-88 loss to the Talk n Text Phone Pals early in the tourney.

Coming through with a follow-up on their 79-75 win over the Coca-Cola Tigers Wednesday, the Giants gained solo second place in the standings with a 7-3 win-loss card, just a game behind the pacesetting San Miguel Beermen at 8-2.

Alaska, meanwhile, continued to flounder on the road and slid to joint sixth place with Red Bull with identical 4-6 records. The Uytengsu franchise has lost 14 of its last 16 out-of-town games dating back to 2003.

It was a heart-rending defeat for the Aces who took control almost throughout only to sag and collapse in the homestretch.

Alaska never scored a basket again after Don Allado canned in a charity to tie the count at 64-all with 1:57 left to play.

The Giants put the cuffs on the Aces at the finish and went to Noy Castillo and Kerby Raymundo for the killer points.

Castillo shattered the 64-all deadlock with two charities, then after James Yap stole a crucial Alaska possession, Raymundo banged in a perimeter shot as the Giants stretched their lead to four with time down to 44 seconds.

Raymundo, who led all scorers with 14 points, also had four blocks, including one he made against Sonny Thoss in the closing seconds.

Castillo finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while Yap closed out with 12 points.

Curiously, the Giants continued to avoid a 600th loss in franchise history. Purefoods is one of four clubs to have played over 1,000 games in the league.