Alaska slips past Star, grabs share of lead

Alaska Milk outmaneuvered Star in a topsy-turvy finish of a well-fought contest, pulling off a 107-102 victory to regain a piece of the lead in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday.

In the biggest play of the game, Cyrus Baguio sneaked in with a layup on a good feed by Vic Manuel as the Aces made it 105-102 with time down to 7.4 seconds.

Then came the biggest boner in the contest with James Yap fumbling a crucial possession, allowing the Aces to escape and tie the San Miguel Beermen at 5-1.

The Hotshots dropped to 2-5.

“What a game,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton after they pulled through in the thrilling contest.

The Hotshots stayed in the battle to the finish despite atrocious plays by Yap at endgame.

In one sequence with Star down by three at 100-103, the two-time MVP winner missed a layup then, after recovering possession, bungled an uncontested shot underneath the basket.

Jvee Casio caught fire in the third quarter, leading a key attack the Aces unleashed to pad a four-point halftime lead to 10 at 85-75 going into the final quarter.

The Aces twice led by 11 in the third, the second one on a 10-to-nothing run by Casio and Dondon Hontiveros.

But the Hotshots kept on coming back all the way to the end.

With a 27-22 advantage on bench points, the Aces took the half at 50-46.

Shortly before the buzzer, Eric Menk went down with a broken nose sustained on a wayward elbow by Marc Pingris.

With seven minutes into the second half, RJ Jazul also suffered a nasty cut on the forehead on an accidental hit from PJ Simon.

The two teams engaged in a battle in the first 24 minutes of play where neither led by more than five. (SB)

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