What he did not capture as a PBA player for 12 years, he snared in only his second conference as a coach.

Thrice denied in the finals as a player, coach Boyet Fernandez achieved a personal milestone last night when he bagged his first PBA crown and guided Sta. Lucia to a maiden All-Filipino title before a huge crowd inside the Araneta Coliseum.

In a PBA finals that pitted marquee names in Negros basketball, Fernandez of Valladolid town stood out, his tactics working effectively to foil Escalante's James Yap and the rest of the Purefoods Giants, 100-88, in the winner-take-all game 7.

Fernandez pushed all the right buttons in the final stretch, putting rookie defensive specialist Ryan Reyes on Yap, who was starting to find his rhythm beyond the arc and gave the Giants an 80-79 lead with back-to-back triples.

The ploy worked wonders as Reyes hounded Yap to no end and Purefoods could not buy a basket, while the Realtors, with captain Dennis Espino hitting his stride, were finding a way to score at the other end.

Fernandez, who played college ball at the Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, may be the architect of the memorable victory but he was quick to skirt the credit away from himself.

"My players worked hard for this championship, particularly our veterans led by our captain Dennis Espino," Fernandez said. "I want to thank my family and the Sta. Lucia management for their support. Without them this would not have been possible".

"I am very happy that I finally gave Sta. Lucia a first all-Filipino championship," Fernandez, who never won a PBA title during his 12-year career as a pro player, added.

Fernandez, known as a rugged defender and deadly outside shooter during his heyday, became the 10th former player to win the title as a coach.

The title, only the second for the franchise after the 2001 Governor's Cup, capped the record-setting encore of the Realtors in a conference where they posted a franchise-best eight-game win streak and clinched an automatic semis slot. Kelly Williams also became the first Sta. Lucia player to win the Player of the Conference award.

After back-to-back triples from Yap, Espino took charge, scoring six points in an 11-0 run that allowed the Realtors to put the game beyond the Giants' reach.

Struggling in Game 6, Williams also came up big, notching his 22nd double-double this conference with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Yap, who entered the game averaging 27.8 points, was limited to 21 as he struggled on 7-of-22 shooting from the perimeter.

The Realtors came back from 44-50 down and took a 62-51 buffer with 5:23 left in the third, before Peter June Simon dropped 14 points in a 19-9 run that cut the deficit to one, 70-71, entering the final quarter.

The crowd last night was 18,167, the biggest since the 18,287 fans saw Game 6 of the 2005 Philippine Cup Finals between eventual champion Barangay Ginebra opposite Talk 'N Text, PBA record show.*CPT

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