For the second straight game, veteran playmaker Roger Yap came through with clutch plays for Purefoods.

The 10-year veteran Yap made the baskets that mattered most to help the Giants beat the Barako Bull Energy Boosters, 70-66, for their fourth consecutive victory in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

After scoring a personal season-high 21 points in a previous win (89-81) against sister-team Barangay Ginebra last Sunday, Yap scored his team’s last five points – a lay-up, a split free throw and a left quarter court bank shot.

The last basket Yap made with 33.4 seconds left made it 70-66 after Barako Bull trimmed the lead to two (66-68) following a three-pointer from rookie Benedict Fernandez, who had a career-best 12 points, surpassing his 11-point total in five games he played.

James Yap, who had 18 points, made a key jumper with six minutes left that shattered the game’s last deadlock at 61-all, giving the Giants a 63-61 advantage. The other Yap finished with 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 29 minutes of action.

The victory not only improved Purefoods’ win-loss record to 8-4, but also allowed the Giants to take solo third, breaking free from a three-way tie with defending champion Talk ’N Text and Ginebra, which now share fourth with similar 7-4 cards.

“We were not fluid at all especially on offense,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said. “But just like we’ve been doing the whole time, no matter what, we’ll still play hard. No matter how ugly the win was... we’ll take it anyway.”

“This usually happens on a team with injured players coming back. But this is a very important win for us. We’ll be facing two tough teams,” added Gregorio, referring to his team’s Dec. 13 date with San Miguel Beer and a face-off with TNT on Dec. 19 in Cagayan de Oro City.

“It’s alarming, we’ve been throwing the ball like crazy, but what’s alarming is that they outrebounded us (43-51),” Gregorio said, as his team swept Barako Bull this conference following its first round win (92-77).

Purefoods actully led by as many as 21 points, 32-11, midway in the second period, but the Giants fell into a maze of errors — they had 17 in the game — that allowed the Boosters to comeback and tie the count twice, the last at 63-all on Paolo Hubalde's two free throws.

Barako Bull suffered its eighth straight setback for a 2-10 record.

The scores:
PUREFOODS 70 – Yap J. 18, Yap R. 11, Artadi 8, Raymundo 8, Pingris 6, Allado 6, Timberlake 4, Reavis 4, Simon 2, Adducul 2, Maierhofer 1, Canaleta 0.
BARAKO BULL 66 – Fernandez 12, Reyes 9, Menor 8, Alonzo 8, Aljamal 8, Hubalde 5, Chia 5, Belano 3, Duncil 2, Sta. Maria 2, Dimaunahan 2, Lao 2.
Quarters: 21-9; 40-26; 54-47; 70-66.