MANILA -- Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants survived Sta. Lucia Realty’s mighty comeback and escaped with a 68-63 win Saturday night in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Robert Z. Barbers Memorial Sports Complex in Surigao del Norte.

The Giants nearly squandered an 18-point lead midway in the fourth period as the Realtors, behind Kelly Williams and Josh Urbiztondo, staged a furious run that fell short, denying the Realtors a three-game win streak.

Kerby Raymundo led Purefoods with 15 points while Paul Artadi and Roger Yap chipped in 10 apiece for the team, which ended its first-round campaign with a 5-4 win-loss mark.

Giants head coach Ryan Gregorio also drew 9 markers each from Peter June Simon and Marc Pingris to offset another lethargic performance from one-time MVP James Yap, who was held to just 7 in the game.

With Yap struggling, Raymundo took charge, hitting 12 of his total output in the first half. This allowed Purefoods to take a 33-26 halftime lead.

Then the bench got involved on offense and helped the team build a 63-45 lead with 5:34 left in the game.

But Sta. Lucia didn’t let Purefoods run away with an easy win as Urbiztondo scored the next 6 points and put his team back, 52-65, 3:23 remaining. Williams and Joseph Yeo charged with 7-0 run to close the gap, 59-65, with 1:05 left in the contest.

Williams stole a pass in the next Purefoods possession, resulting in a split by Urbiztondo, 60-65 with under a minute left.

Raymundo ended the Giants’ scoring drought with its own split charities, 66-60, but Williams responded with a pair of bonus shots to make it a 62-66 game with 20.7 ticks remaining.

That’s the closest the Realtors could get as Urbiztondo and Pingris traded a free throw each. Jason Misolas tried a triple but missed as Roger Yap sealed the win for Purefoods with a free throw.

Williams led Sta. Lucia with 16 points while Yeo added 11. Urbiztondo and Dennis each had 8 markers for the Realtors, who now also card a 5-4 slate.

Purefoods held down Gabby Espinas scoreless. Espinas averaged close to 13 points a game prior to the match.

It was huge win for the Giants, who came from a humiliating 87-101 loss to league-leader Alaska.