James Yap had 28 points and was 6 out of 11 from 3-point range but could not lead Derby Ace to a crucial playoff game vs San Miguel. Derby Ace Import Clif Brown who played well in the past few games was a non-factor in this game scoring only 9pts and 10rebs and could not limit San Miguel Import Gabe Freeman who scored 20 points.

Special Mention goes to Nino Canaleta who had a solid performance with 16pts,7rebs and Rafi Reavis with 10pts, 8rebs, 2blks.

San Miguel now enters the semifinals automatically with Talk N Text while Derby Ace will face the winner of the wild card phase in the best of 5 quarterfinals series. In the other game, Ginebra routs Rain or Shine and enters the quarterfinals and the Elasto Painters moves down to the Wild Card Phase with Coca Cola, Sta Lucia and Air 21.

Game scores:

San Miguel 88 – Hontiveros 21, Freeman 20, Washington 19, Cabagnot 14, Santos 6, Seigle 5, Yeo 3, Villanueva 0, Miranda 0, Racela 0, Ildefonso 0, Pena 0.

B-Meg Derby Ace 83 – Yap J. 28, Canaleta 16, Reavis 10, Brown 9, Maierhofer 6, Yap R. 6, Pingris 4, Simon 2, Allado 2, Artadi 0.

Quarters: 23-13, 42-31, 61-58, 88-83

James Yap had his best game in this 7 game semifinal series scoring 24 points and 4 rebounds in leading Purefoods to a win vs San Miguel to tie the series 2-2. Roger Yap almost had a triple double with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, while Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis had 25 rebounds combined.

Purefoods led by as much as 22 points but San Miguel came back in the 2nd half to trim the lead to 3, 74-71, but James Yap waxed hot and made his free throws in the 4th quarter (13 out of 16 overall) to stop the run of San Miguel. With the series now tied at 2-2, it is now only a best of 3 series with the winner of the next game having a step ahead for the PBA finals.

Game Scores:

Purefoods 97 – Yap J 24, Pingris 15, Yap R 15, Raymundo 13, Reavis 12, Maierhofer 8, Simon 5, Artadi 4, Adducul 1, Allado 0.

San Miguel 84 – Ildefonso 17, Washington 14, Villanueva 13, Santos 11, Hontiveros 10, Custodio 6, Miranda 6, Pena 4, Pennissi 3, Holper 0, Cortez 0, Racela 0.

James Yap leads Purefoods back to the semifinals by beating Rain or Shine 95-85 in the Do or Die Game 5 at the Araneta Coliseum. Yap contributed 28 points on 11/22 from the field including some acrobatic shots that tore down the defense of the Elasto Painters. Solomon Mercado came up with 23 points but could not lead Rain or Shine to a win. Marc Pingris had a monster game with 14 points and 16 rebounds leading Purefoods in rebounding 48-37.

The Best of 7 semifinals between Purefoods and San Miguel will start on Wednesday.

In the other series, Talk N Text played Game 5 after a walkout in Game 4 but bowed down to Barangay Ginebra. Ginebra will play Alaska Aces in the other best of 7 semifinal match up.

Game scores:

Purefoods 95 – Yap J. 28, Raymundo 16, Yap R. 16, Pingris 14, Reavis 9, Maierhofer 4, Allado 4, Artadi 2, Simon 2, Canaleta 0.

Rain or Shine 85 – Mercado 23, Norwood 20, Reyes 9, Chan 8, Arana 7, Cruz 6, Laure 6, Telan 4, Tang 2, Arellano 0, Hrabak 0.

Quarters: 25-26, 50-47, 80-66, 95-85.