KG Canaleta (center) blocks Sonny Thoss of Alaska Milk (left) in Wednesday night's Game 4 of the Kfc-PBA Philippine Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum. The Giants won, 86-76, to complete a 4-0 sweep of the best-of-seven Finals series. (Photo by ALI VICOY)

Purefoods came through with one huge push in the third period and then held on to finish off Alaska Milk, 86-76, and complete a four-game sweep of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup Finals Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

With the count tied at 48-all with seven minutes left in the third quarter, Rico Maierhofer, James Yap, and Roger Yap conspired for a 9-0 blast to send the Giants racing away, 57-48, and never looking back from there to complete a 4-0 sweep of the best-of-seven championship.

The best the Aces could do from there was to trim down the lead to three, 65-68, only to reel back anew from a 9-2 blast that all but broke their backs, 77-65, with 4:27 to go.

It was only the third sweep in a seven-game Finals series in league history, and the first since 1992.

The Northern Consolidated-backed National Team mentored by American Ron Jacobs swept Manila Beer in the 1985 Reinforced Conference while Swift Mighty Meaty powered by super import Tony Harris, did the trick against Seven-Up in the 1992 Third Conference.

It was the first championship for Purefoods in four seasons, or since winning their fourth Philippine Cup title in the 2005-2006 season when it beat Red Bull (now Barako Bull) in six games.

The two All-Filipino championships also sent the Purefoods tying Crispa at the top of the all-time list, while the eight titles overall put the Giants at No. 5, tying the conference championships won by sister team Barangay Ginebra, behind San Miguel Beer (18), Crispa (13), Alaska (12), and Toyota (9).

The Giants defeated Alaska in the series-opener, 81-77, last week. In last Wednesday's Game 2, James Yap exploded for 32 points in a thrilling 86-85 victory. They took a 3-0 lead with a 79-78 triumph in Game 3 last Sunday.

The Giants led by 13 points twice in the second period, the last at 35-22 on a jumper by Roger Yap with 5:56 to play.

Purefoods was still up by 10, 40-30, after a triple by Kerby Raymundo when Alaska rallied back behind point guard LA Tenorio, who had seven points in a 10-0 run capped by a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the first half, tying the score at halftime at 40-all.

Alaska coach Tim Cone was assessed with a technical foul for protesting a call when Reynel Hugnatan was whistled for an offensive foul, his third personal with 2:59 remaining in the first period.

A crowd of 16,879 were present in Game 4.

The scores:
PUREFOODS 86 — J. Yap 18, R. Yap 16, Raymundo 13, Maierhofer 12, Pingris 9, Simon 5, Reavis 5, Canaleta 3, Artadi 3, Salvador 2, Allado 0.
ALASKA 76 — Thoss 19, MIller 17, Tenorio 11, Hugnatan 9, Cariaso 5, Devance 4, Fonacier 4, Dela Cruz 4, Ferriols 2, Cablay 1, Borboran 0.
Quarters: 21-15, 40-40, 65-58, 86-76.