Alaska Aces fended off Meralco’s ferocious run in the fourth quarter to escape the Bolts, 94-91 and clinch the last playoff seat in the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Photo credit: alaskaaces.com.ph
Veteran guard Dondon Hontiveros had steady hands in the end game, drilling in crucial free throws as the Aces survived back-to-back do-or-die games in two nights.
“You really feel proud of them when it’s a back-to-back game with extended minutes,” Alaska Coach Louigi Trillo said.
“We needed to weather that storm of theirs,” he added (Statement from gmanetwork.com)
With the win, Alaska gained the right to face elimination round top seed Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, which bragging a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarters.
But the Bolts, who failed to advance in the quarterfinals for the first time in their franchise history, put up a gallant stand for themselves.
Down by five, Gary David powered Bolts’ comeback down the stretch with a four-point play off Jvee Casio’s sixth foul to put a scare and come within a point 90-89, 51.8 left in the stirring game.
ReynelHugnatan committed an ill-advised foul on Sonny Thoss in the ensuing play but turned out to be a good one as Thoss missed both of his charities that gave Meralco a chance to take the lead with 35.6 remaining.
But Cyrus Baguio played a good defense on David, which forced the latter to put up a shot in a wasted possession that led to Hontiveros’ trip to the free-throw line with 8.7 left in the clock.Dondon sank both free throws for a 92-89 buffer.
Jared Dillinger then rushed a layup from coast to coast to cut the lead to one but Hontiveros who was again fouled in the last 4.5 seconds calmly buried another two free-throws to seal the deal.
The known Cebuano hot shot finished with 20 points while Baguio also scattered 16 points, seven coming in the Aces 9-3 run at the 7:00 mark that padded their lead to nine, after Bolts threatened earlier at 74-71.
Thoss the best player of the game had 21 markers and seven rebounds and Gabby Espinas added 16 markers for Alaska which lost Calvin Abueva due to right ankle injury early in second quarter of the game.
David fired 20 points while Paul Artadi chipped in 15 markers to lead the defiant Meralco, which had numerous rally in the second half.
The scores:
Alaska (94) —Thoss 21, Hontiveros 20, Espinas 16, Baguio16, Casio 13, Jazul 4, Eman 4, Dela Cruz 0, Ramos 0, Abueva 0.
Meralco (91) — David 20, Artadi 15, Hodge 14, Dillinger 12, Salvacion 11, Wilson 9, Hugnatan 6, Ildefonso 2, Al-Hussaini 0, Timberlake 0.
Quarterscores: 15-20, 42-39, 70-60, 94-91