ALASKA ENDS ELIMS CAMPAIGN IN STYLE
SOME facets of Alaska’s usually rock-strong game may not show up, but its tenacity would still be enough to pull it through.
Take the case Sunday, when the Aces struggled in the stretch but still escaped with a 93-92 squeaker over Globalport to end their PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations campaign with an exclamation point at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The win, its fourth straight and 11th in 14 games in all, officially sealed Alaska’s emergence as elims topnotcher.
Eliminated from the playoffs as early as last Saturday, Globalport went into the game hoping for an upset that would go a long way in bracing it up for the season-ending Governors Cup.
Yet the Batang Pier failed to hold on to a 72-57 third quarter lead and their fightback from a 77-89 deficit fell short as they absorbed a 10th straight loss that dropped them to a 2-11 slate.
The Mikee Romero-owned franchise is now left hoping it could achieve its modest goal of ending the conference with a win against Barako Bull on Sunday.
Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo was far from content, however. “I’ll take it, but I wasn’t pleased in the end,” he stated. “We had stretches when we were playing solid, but we kept turning the ball over. When you’re entering the playoffs it’s hard to have games like this. Our sharpness and focus were questionable today.”
Cyrus Baguio showed up in civvies and Sonny Thoss suited up but was not fielded to rest their injured backs. But their absence should not be used as an excuse for Alaska’s sloppy plays, according to Trillo.
“We committed 19 turnovers. Our average is 15. We gave up 25 offensive rebounds. We’ve got to be better than that,” he pointed out.
The likes of Robert Dozier, Calvin Abueva, RJJazul and even Jvee Casio, whose injured knee is hardly recovered, still did enough to help Alaska escape.
Dozier finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, Abueva notched his league-most 15th double-double of the season with 17 and 14, Jazul 14 points and Casio 11 points and as many assists.
Even Sam Eman did his part by disrupting Reed Juntilla’s intended inbound pass to Gary David that foiled Globalport’s last play.
That ruined the Batang Pier’s charge sparked by three-point plays from Juntilla and Jaypee Belencion, before David took over with the last nine of his game-high 29 points that brought them within 92-93, still 26 seconds to go.
Globalport even had other chances to steal the game when Jazul lost the ball to a double-team in the last 19.4 seconds. But Dozier blocked David’s layup try and Juntilla missed a followup jumper.
Although Abueva went out of bounds with the ball in the ensuing rebound play and Globalport coach Junel Baculi hatched a final play designed for David, Alaska was clearly ready.
That capped another sad ending for the Batang Pier, who seemed well on their way to snapping out of a nearly two-month-old drought when it stretched a 46-45 halftime edge to 72-57, 1:27 left in the third period.
David, Yousif Aljamal, Rudy Lingganay and Belencion were at the forefront of that assault by at least sinking a triple each and made up for yet another bland game from Sylvester Morgan.
Morgan had 17 points and 14 rebounds but scored only two points in the entire second half and none at all in the fourth quarter. (NC)
The scores:
Alaska 93 – Dozier 18, Abueva 17, Jazul 14, Casio 11, Hontiveros 11, Espinas 8, Dela Cruz 8, Belasco 4, Ramos 2, Reyes 0, Eman 0, Laure 0.
Globalport 92 – David 29, Morgan 17, Lingganay 8, Belencion 7, Juntilla 7, Aljamal 7, Aguilar 5, Miller 5, Salvador 4, Deutchman 3, Mandani 0, Yee 0.
Quarterscores: 22-18; 45-46; 66-72; 93-92.
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