James Yap and Denzel Bowles delivered what was expected from them last night as B-MEG blew away Talk N Text, 82-66 to move closer to the PBA Commissioner's Cup crown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Combining for 58 points, Yap and Bowles helped B-Meg beat Talk N Text Tropang Texters.

The victory was the third in five games for B-Meg in the best-of-seven title duel and coach Tim Cone said no less than a reprise of his charges' herculean efforts on Friday is needed for them to close

out the series.

"It took a tremendous effort for us to win tonight. We gave our absolute all to win tonight," said Cone, now on the verge of a 14th championship in all in only his second conference with the team

formerly known as Purefoods.

"The pressure is on us to close out the series, especially against a great team like Talk N Text. I hope we have another effort like that, I hope Denzel has another effort like that, I hope James has another effort like that."

Yap said he will surely try, notwithstanding a right middle finger that got jammed early in the series.

Yap scored 14 points but only on 3-for-16 field shooting in an 85-100 Game 4 loss.

Before a crowd of almost 16,000, the two-time MVP went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and 10-for-16 from the field in all for a personal conference-high 30 points that went with nine rebounds despite an array of defenders thrown at him.

Jared Dillinger had a second straight 18-point game and Donnell Harvey had 13 points and 16 rebounds, but TNT found itself now taking its turn at trying to come up with an effort to match B-Meg's come Friday.

Coach Chot Reyes doesn't know yet, however, if his charges are up to the task.

"They played tremendous defense and we couldn't get untracked," said Reyes after seeing his team come up with its lowest output in seven years, or since a 66-74 loss to San Miguel Beer in the opener of the 2005 Fiesta Conference finals.

"Our defense was not bad. Once you hold down your opponent to 82 points you should win games," he said.

Bowles wound up with 28 points on top of a gamehigh 18 rebounds. His 13 points in the fourth period

matched the entire Texters output, leading to the series' second straight blowout after the first three games were decided by an average margin of only four points.

With Yap chipping in five points, Joe Devance three and Marc Pingris two, B-Meg turned a 59-53 game after three quarters into a rout that was totally unexpected even by Cone himself.

Pingris, who dislocated his left ring finger early in the game but had it taped to the middle joint and came back to finish the game, was especially cited by Cone, as well as Yancy de Ocampo, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds and helped defend Harvey and sustain B-Meg's attack in

the middle quarters before fouling out late in the third period.*pba. com

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