TWO-TIME MVP James Yap posted 34 points as San Mig Coffee bounced back with a 106-82 victory over Rain or Shine in the 38th Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Friday. With one win each, the best-of-seven semifinals series is now levelled at1-1.

Rain or Shine, which won Game One (91-83), tried to regroup but to no avail as rookie Aldrich Ramos connected a triple in the left wing to post their biggest lead, 105-80, with still over two minutes remaining in the game.

Even with a bum knee he suffered during Game One on Wednesday, the Escalante-born Yap likewise notched 11 rebounds in a splendid performance highlighted with six triples that prevented the Elasto Painters from recovering.

The Elasto Painters started strong as JR Quinahan, Jeff Chan and Paul Lee fired a triple each that doused cold water on the Coffee Mixers’ defense to gain an early 11-point lead, 27-16. James Yap’s jumper reduced the gap to only nine, 27-18, in the first canto.

“We shortened our rotation tonight and put the pressure on James Yap and PJ Simon and Marc Pingres played extra minutes tonight. We went to a smaller line-up. We got a lot of matchups that we wanted. I felt outcoached in Game One. We tried to win the battle of the matchups and played a big second half. They battled through their tiredness. Hopefully, Jonas Villanueva would come back on Christmas Day. I felt we were not playing that game like a playoff game; we were not playing with great ferocity. If you don’t match it you’ll have no chance to win the game. Rain or Shine was really great in that first half,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone.