The Alaska Aces doused a fiery Rain or Shine Elasto Painters comeback attempt to zoom to their fourth straight victory, 105-102, and drag the latter to their second straight loss, Sunday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“What a game,” said Aces head coach Alex Compton after the down-the-wire tiff, which keeps their record to a clean 4-0. “I told my guys that this game might go down to the last possession.”
Cory Jefferson starred again for the Aces, leading the pack with 41 points — 18 in the third quarter alone, and the booming clutch triple with 30 seconds to in the game — on 32 shots along with 13 boards.
“That’s what we want to see from him,” lauded Compton of Jefferson. “It’s good to see him knock down some shots.”
The Aces led by as much as 14, 72-58, with 4:55 to go in the third canto, but coughed it up in the final frame as RoS sprinted to 11 straight points powered by Mike Tolomia’s triple and a reverse lay-up to lead by four, 91-87, with 5:30 left.
RoS then sustained momentum in the final two minutes, leading Alaska 97-93 after a Shawn Taggart lay-up. But the Aces forced another exchange that went in their favor, 101-99, after a Jefferson triple went in with 30.1 seconds to go.
That proved to be the end for Rain or Shine, highlighted by a Tolomia turnover with 23 ticks left. Taggart nailed a triple with 8.6 ticks to go after a pair of JVee Casio foul shots, 102-103, but Casio sank his charities once again to take a 105-103 cushion.
Tolomia tried to make another miracle with a pull-up triple from the top of the key with just 7.4 seconds on the clock, but his shot clanged off the rim, sealing the deal for Alaska.
“Rain or Shine just showed how tough they are. They’re really tough,” said Compton.
Casio flirted with a double-double as he supplied 16 markers and eight assists. Sonny Thoss had 15 and five rebounds, while Calvin Abueva managed to chip in 10 points despite going 2-of-6.
Taggart anchored the Elasto Painters with 40 points of his own by going 14-of-20 from the floor with 14 rebounds in the 40 minutes he played. Jericho Cruz backed him up with 11 markers, while Tolomia added nine — all produced in the fourth.
Alaska shot 45 percent from the floor, with most of their shots coming from their 23 assists. They also out-rebounded the Elasto Painters, 55-50.
Alaska will face fellow undefeated team in Meralco on April 8, Saturday, 5:15 PM, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, while Rain or Shine will try to go back to their winning ways versus Phoenix on April 12, Wednesday, 7:00 PM, still at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
Alaska (105) – Jefferson 41, Casio 16, Thoss 15, Abueva 11, Racal 6, Enciso 5, Exciminiano 3, Andrada 3, Pascual 2, Cruz 2, Mendoza 1.
Rain or Shine (102) – Taggart 40, Cruz 11, Tolomia 9, Yap 8, Norwood 8, Chan 7, Belga 6, Almazan 4, Washington 4, Tiu 3, Ponferada 2, Ahanmisi 0.
Quarterscores: 26-29, 50-44, 80-71, 105-102.
