ALASKA TRIPS NLEX
Getting much beating from Al Thornton, the Alaska Aces put the stoppage when they needed to in the crunch and thus escaped with a 96-95 nail-biter over the NLEX Road Warriors in a PBA Commissioner’s Cup Petron Blaze Saturday Special at The Arena in San Juan.
The Aces put the clamps on Thornton in the final minute, and squeezed through as the highly touted import was unable to take a shot in their final possession in the last four seconds.
With Alaska ahead by just a point, Chris Exciminiano, Calvin Abueva and Dondon Hontiveros helped each other out to deny Thornton a path to the basket.
At the buzzer, Thornton was down on the floor with the ball in his hands, allowing Alaska to get into the win-column after dropping its conference debut versus Purefoods Star.
DJ Covington scored a team-high 24 points while Vic Manuel, Cyrus Baguio and RJ Jazul added 16, 14 and 12, respectively, as the Aces scored their first win after their runner-up finish to the San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Cup.
Manuel, however, could join Sonny Thoss and Jvee Casio on the sideline in their next game as the scrappy 6-foot-4 forward injured his left knee with 3:00 left to play.
Minus Thoss and Casio, the Aces survived a battle with Thornton and the Road Warriors whom they dealt a second straight loss in the mid-season tourney.
The Aces made it 3-0 versus the Road Warriors in their head-on duels in the season.
Despite 39 points from Thornton, the Road Warriors reeled with a second straight loss following a 91-96 defeat at the hands of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Tuesday.
KG Canaleta and Rudy Lingganay sizzled from the long court, providing Thornton valuable help as NLEX charged back from a 13-point deficit in the third period and dragged Alaska to a down-to-the-wire finish.
From a 56-69 count, Thonton, Canaleta and Lingganay combined for six three-pointers in an assault that had the Road Warriors threatening at 92-93 after the last of those bombs from beyond the arc.
Then the Road Warriors got a chance to steal the game as they took possession following a missed throw-down by Covington and a muffed three-pointer by Dondon Hontiveros.
Thornton called timeout at mid-court with 4.0 seconds to go.
At the resumption of play, the Road Warriors got the inbound at the hands Thornton, but the Aces put up a defensive gem to pull through.(SB)
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