JAMES YAP showed nerves of steel in the endgame, completing a three-point play off a steal on Danny Seigle as the Purefoods Chunkee Giants capped a spectacular weekend with a heart-stopping 92-90 overtime win over the slumping San Miguel Beermen in last night’s San Mig Coffee-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

REY BAUTISTA, the teenager from Bohol who captivated the entire nation with an explosive performance on the same ring Manny Pacquiao capped a glorious day of memorable wins by Filipino fighters, will return to action on Nov. 19 in Tagbilaran, Bohol.

THERE ARE some people who think that the thrill of life diminishes as one matures and takes on new roles as husbands or wives, parents and grandparents. The innocence and carefree attitude of youth have passed and so has life’s decadence and recklessness.

THE UPSILON Sigma Phi, the oldest and most esteemed fraternity in the University of the Philippines, will stage the first Ambassador Edgardo B. Espiritu Cup on Nov. 14 with officials of the country’s top private and government corporations expected to see action with the members of the Upsilonians na Pumapalo at the Manila Golf Club inside the posh Forbes Park.

THE PHILIPPINES finished a disappointing 19th in a field of 22 as its ladies squad closed out the 2005 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championships the way it started it — in forgettable fashion.

VILLAMOR BROKE into the win column in Class A behind the 40-point effort of Marissa Romano in the eighth and penultimate leg of the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines WGAP Circuit at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) — World champion Fernando Alonso won the season-ending Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to clinch his Renault team’s first-ever Formula One constructor’s title.

DINO JACINTO warded off Jean Stefano Marcelo in the championship round to claim the Rotax Max Novice crown recently in the 2005 Shell Superkarting Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

NATIONAL TEAM members Julius Sermona and Christabel Martes shared the limelight yesterday by humbling their respective rivals in the 2005 Adidas King of the Road at the Adidas Sports Kamp in Bonifacio Global City.

JOHN ALVAREZ was given the chance to frolic in the United States last summer vacation. But he chose to forego a grand vacation to train hard in his bid to win Driver of the Year in the Cadet 60 Expert Class of the 2005 Shell Superkarting Series.

FAMILIARITY WITH the course gives both the RP canoe/kayak and sailing teams the confidence it can muster gold medal victories in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games.

OZAMIZ CITY — Host Ozamiz Cotta nipped defending champion Tribu Sugbu, 74-73, Saturday at the Gov. Angel Medina Sr. gym here to win the Southern Conference title and arrange a showdown with idle Cavite for the 2005 Panasonic-NBC national basketball crown.

After being the object of a national “manhunt” for a week, Mark Benitez is set to appear before the sports council of La Salle today to air his side in a controversy that has put in question the recruitment program of UAAP member schools.

OWING TO budget constraints, the Philippine sports officials might drop the original plan of holding the opening and closing ceremonies of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games at the Rizal Park.

Barely a month after the 1st Philippine Mount Everest Expedition Team member Leo Oracion reached the peak of Muztag Ata (7,546 meters/24,902 ft) in China, another Filipino climber, Romi Garduce, summited Cho-Oyu in Nepal. At 8,201 meters (approximately 27,063 feet), Cho-Oyu, “The Turquoise Goddess,’’ is the sixth-highest peak in the world. It is the highest recorded altitude reached by a Filipino climber, and his second Alpine peak after previously climbing Aconcagua (6,962 meters/22,841 feet) in Argentina earlier this year.

NO MATTER how the current La Salle brouhaha plays out, it is bound to open more than just a can of worms that could revive the moribund earthworm-raising industry.

HILLTOP TAYTAY, Rizal — Former national skeet shooter and Kuwait national team coach Jun Vergara of Team Pampanga’s Best shot 162 clay birds to win the just-concluded three-day 1st Philippine National Compak Sporting Clays Championship at the Team Goma shooting range here.

UNIVERSITY OF Santo Tomas swept the UAAP Season 68 table tennis seniors crowns recently, beating University of the East on and off the table in the men’s side and trampling Far Eastern U in the women’s contest.

WINNING ONE overtime game is hard enough. But two in a row in a three-day span? That’s exactly what Purefoods Chunkee pulled off in the week and the feat has many fans wondering if the team is finally on its way to attaining PBA glory.

THE PBA board meeting presided over by Commissioner Noli Eala yesterday turned out to be uneventful yet puzzling.

FORMER SEN. Joey Lina, president of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, has a last-ditch proposal to resolve the basketball impasse in the Southeast Asian Games: Reinstate the BAP to the Philippine Olympic Committee on a temporary basis.