Entering Saturday night’s affair at the AUF sports Arena & Cultural Center, fans and pundits alike had listed this game as a whitewashing in favor of the grand slam-seeking San Miguel Beermen. But the Alaska Aces were defiant, shocking the Beermen with a strong start that led to a 90-79 win and snapped their 14-game losing streak, Saturday evening.
It took exactly 153 days for the Aces to wake-up from their long nightmare as their last win came against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last April 2, 2017. San Miguel, on the other hand, dropped their second straight loss to fall to 3-3, tied for ninth with Globalport.
LaDontae Henton led Alaska with 36 points and 15 rebounds, while Calvin Abueva added 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
And all it took was a strong 19-9 start from Alaska to score the wire-to-wire victory as San Miguel could not find the hole nor contain the Aces in the closing minutes of the opening frame.
San Miguel tried to keep pace with Alaska in the third frame, cutting the lead to as low as three points on multiple occassion, but the Aces were simply not to be denied of the elusive win that plagued them for five months.
Finding their confidence that they could keep pace with San Miguel, 11-2 run that turned a nine-point lead into a game-high 74-57 lead with 6:35 left. Henton, Abueva, and JVee Casio all had a hand in the run.
The duo of Arwind Santos and June Mar Fajardo did all they could to spark the Beermen but big shots from Casio, Henton, and Sonny Thoss halted any run they are trying to gain.
Thoss added 12 markers as the Aces shot at a 42-percent shooting clip. Moreover, they were able to force San Miguel to commit 24 turnovers that led to 29 points.
Santos was the high point man for San Miguel, scoring 29 points on 21 attempts off the bench while grabbing nine rebounds. Fajardo added a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, while Cabagnot chipped in 14 markers on a horrid 31 percent shooting.
The new reinforcement San Miguel paraded, Terik Bridgeman had a terrible debut, scoring just two points while committing six turnovers in 21 minutes.
Alaska look to sustain the momentum they gained from this game when they face the Globalport Batang Pier on Friday, September 8, at 4:15pm. San Miguel, on the other hand, hope to end their own skid on Wednesday, September 6, against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The Scores:
Alaska 90 – Henton 36, Abueva 13, Thoss 12, Casio 9, Banchero 6, Galliguez 5, Enciso 4, Mendoza 2, Pascual 2, Racal 1, Baclao 0.
San Miguel 79 – Santos 29, Cabagnot 14, Fajardo 12, Lassiter 6, Ross 4, Heruela 4, Espinas 4, Pessumal 3, Bridgeman 2, Rosser 1, Semerad 0.
Quarterscores: 19-9, 44-31, 63-53, 90-79.
