In danger of falling out of the top eight, the Blackwater Elite played with a sense of urgency, stunning the Alaska Aces, 103-100, in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
With the victory, Blackwater’s record improves to 5-4, and they are now in the fourth spot of the standings. The Aces, meanwhile, missed another chance to share a hold of the second spot and dropped to an even 4-4 card.
Five players led Blackwater’s offense tonight. Mac Belo, who came of a four-point outing against the San Miguel Beemren, made 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting and had seven boards.
Ronjay Buenafe scored 16 markers highlighted by four treys and grabbed five rebounds. Art Dela Cruz supplied 13, while big man Raymond Aguilar added ten markers to go with five rebounds of his.
“Going into this game, para kaming — pardon the language — regla. Dalawang panalo, dalawang talo. Tapos mananalo ulit, tapos matatalo,” said Blackwater head coach Leo Isaac.
From a 71-all knot late in the third frame, the Elite outscored the Aces 21-7 behind Roi Sumang, Belo, and Raymond Aguilar to post the game’s biggest lead at 14, 92-78, with 5:39 in the final period.
Sumang, who was the star of the show in the fourth, added 19 markers on 7-of-10 from the floor.
“He’s Roi Sumang. Alam naman natin kung ano kaya niyang gawin. Tiyempo-tiyempo lang. Denok [Miranda], Ael [Banal], and Nard [Pinto] did not play well,” said Isaac about the second-year floor general.
The Aces crawled out of the deep hole they put themselves in, answering back with 11 unanswered points — eight points coming from JVee Casio — to inch within three, 92-89, in the 1:43 mark.
The Aces had chances to close in further, but a triple by Belo from the right wing widened the gap once more, 95-89. A three-point play conversion by Sumang made it 98-91 with 1:21 to go.
Alaska still fought back through a 9-3 run led by Calvin Abueva to make it a one-point game, 101-100. They then fouled Denok Miranda and hoped for a few misses, but the latter sank both of his charities, 103-100, with 4.0 ticks left.
Without any timeouts left, Abueva pulled up for a triple from the right corner for a game-winner attempt, but his shot missed its’ target. A rebound by Belo secured the narrow win for the Elite.
“If you want to beat Alaska, we have to have the same or more energy. Mapa-opensa o mapa-depensa, hindi kami pwede mag-relax.
“All the players came in prepared, and in the end, we were able to match — or even pass — the energy of Alaska,” added Isaac regarding tonight’s victory.
Abueva led the Aces once more with 23 markers off 9-for-16 shooting and 14 rebounds en route to a double-double. Casio also produced 23 along with five boards and six dimes. Vic Manuel added 13.
Alaska played without point guard Chris Banchero tonight. The 6’0″ floor general, who is averaging 7.3 points and 5.4 dimes per contest, did not see action due to a broken left hand.
Regarding team stats, Alaska won the battle in rebounds, 53-34, and in assists, 21-13. However, the Elite shot the ball better, converting 33 out of their 72 tries compared to the 34-of-79 by the Aces.
Blackwater will look to sustain momentum on Friday, January 20, as they face Barangay Ginebra at the Cuneta Astrodome at 7PM. The Aces, meanwhile, will try to bounce back versus Mahindra next Sunday, January 22, 4:30 PM at the Philsports Arena.
The Scores:
Blackwater (103) – Belo 21, Sumang 19, Buenafe 16, Dela Cruz 13, Aguilar 10, Sena 8, Cervantes 6, Miranda 4, Pinto 4, Ababou 2, Pascual 0, Gamalinda 0, Banal 0.
Alaska (100) – Abueva 23, Casio 23, Manuel 13, Racal 9, Mendoza 7, Hontiveros 6, Exciminiano 6, Jazul 4, Cruz 4, Thoss 2, Pascual 2, Dela Cruz 1.
Quarterscores: 28-22, 49-45, 76-71, 103-100
