The Alaska Aces did well enough in crunch time to shut the door on the skidding Blackwater Elite’s upset hopes, 88-84, and keep their winning streak alive, Saturday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Though they were without Calvun Abueva, as he had to leave the venue prior to the game due to personal matter, the Aces have now won their fourth straight match to improve to 4-2. The Elite dropped their third straight outing and are now 2-4.
“I really thought it was gonna be a tough game,” said coach Alex Compton. “Our opinion is [Mac] Belo, [Allein] Maliksi, and [Poy] Erram are superstars. That’s the level of respect that we have for those guys. Coach Leo Isaac and his staff are doing such a great job.”
Chris Banchero led the Milkmen with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four steals. Vic Manuel continues his stellar play with 16 markers along with six boards, while Kevin Racal finished with 14 points spiked by two triples and four caroms
The Elite even went down by as much as 14 in the second, but raced back in the second half to threaten the Aces. The closest they got was a solitary point, 80-81, after Mike DiGregorio’s trey with 2:08 left in the game.
It proved to be the closest Blackwater could ever get, as Banchero’s charity shots and Jeron Teng’s booming triple off a broken play lifted Alaska to a favorable 86-80 advantage with 1:04 remaining on the clock.
Blackwater still had chances to come in close once more, but Mac Belo’s three-pointer from the top with less than 20 ticks left missed. And it also didn’t help that the returning Allein Maliksi fouled out seconds later.
Split free throws by Simon Enciso and Teng, respectively, in the closing seconds proved to be the finishing touches in Alaska’s victory.
“I am very relieved. I think obviously it helped us that they missed a bunch of free throws,” added Compton, as Blackwater shot just eight of their 15 attempts from the stripe — missing seven straight freebies during the fourth. “It seemed like in the second half, they really missed a bunch and in a close game, that matters.”
Teng continued to provide the spark for the Aces with 10 markers and five rebounds in 23 minutes.
The loss put to naught the double-double effort of Poy Erram, who had 14 points and a conference-high 21 rebounds. DiGregorio and Belo each had 15 markers, with the latter adding seven caroms and three dimes.
Alaska will look to make it five in a row versus the Phoenix Fuel Masters on January 31, Wednesday, at 7:00 PM, while Blackwater will aim to end their slump versus the Magnolia Hotshots on February 2, Friday, 4:30 PM. Both games are at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
Alaska 88 – Banchero 16, Manuel 16, Racal 14, Teng 10, Casio 7, Enciso 6, Cruz 5, Baclao 4, Thoss 3, Pascual 3, Magat 2, Exciminiano 2, Potts 0
Blackwater 84 – Digregorio 15, Belo 15, Erram 14, Sumang 10, Maliksi 10, Jose 8, Cortez 5, Sena 5, Cruz 2, Marcelo 0, Javier 0, Pinto 0
Quarterscores: 20-16, 43-35, 67-61, 88-84.
