Yee steers Hotdogs past Thunder

Richard Yee came away with his finest game as a pro last night, stealing the thunder from his more illustrious teammates, including four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio, as Purefoods grabbed the second seeding in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals at the hands of Red Bull with an 85-75 win at the close of the eliminations at the Philsports Arena.

Yee, a UST product who was picked No. 5 overall in the rookie draft in 1999, went 10 of 13 front the field and finished with a career-high 23 points in a swashbuckling performance he dished out curiously on a night Andy Seigle made his first appearance on the Purefoods bench for the first time this conference.

Yee took the spot of Seigle in the Purefoods starting unit with the Fil-American slotman sidelined by foot injury. Purefoods has reactivated Seigle from the injured list although coach Eric Altamirano said they’re not aware whether the player is in shape since he has just returned from the United States.

With Seigle cheering him on, Yee showed up his bigger Red Bull defenders and got away with his biggest production since scoring 19 in their 102-88 rout of Ginebra in the All-Filipino Cup last year. He also had three rebounds and three assists against the same number of turnovers.

The other Purefoods starters — David Wood, Alvin Patrimonio, Rey Evangelista and Noy Castillo — combined for the bulk of the Hotdogs’ numbers as they tied the Thunder with identical 6-3 win-loss records at the end of their elims stints.

Purefoods gained the No. 2 seeding with Red Bull settling for third on a win-over-the-other rule. San Miguel Beer is No. 1 and Alaska No. 4.

"We just wanted to play hard and just wait for the chips to fall because we still don’t know which team we’ll face in the quarters. We also wanted to win of course because of the momentum which we could ride on in the quarters," said Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano.

Altamirano also thought they may well redeem themselves from their sorry loss to Barangay Ginebra in the All-Filipino since there’s a chance they may face the Kings again here. It will be remembered that they bungled a twice-to-beat incentive in losing their quarters matchup with the Kings in the first conference.

"I think God has a plan for us in this conference. He may give us a chance to redeem ourselves against Ginebra," said Altamirano.

Wood got away with another double-double game with 17 points and 15 rebounds while Patrimonio added 15 points and five rebounds. Evangelista and Boyet Fernandez nine points apiece and EJ Feihl six points and three rebounds also he sat out the last few minutes of the game after hurting his left foot.

The Thunder lost their sting and suffered their first defeat in their last five games. The consequence of the loss is a possible semifinals encounter with top favorite San Miguel Beer.