PBA: Jazul heats up late to power Alaska past San Mig Coffee

(Updated 8:10pm) Luigi Trillo and the Alaska Aces have found a way to win against former head coach Tim Cone. Alaska notched its second straight victory against Cone since his departure from the team, dismantling his San Mig Coffee Mixers, 89-82, in game three of  the PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinals, Wednesday, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Treading water and trailing 73-72 in the last three minutes, the Mixers stayed afloat on charities from Mark Barroca against undergoal stabs by Calvin Abueva and Sonny Thoss. However, it was a Joe Devance trey ended a seven-minute field goal drought for San Mig Coffee, putting them ahead, 78-77. Alaska brought the ball up on the other end, but miscommunication led to it getting thrown out of bounds, leaving 30 seconds on the clock. The Mixers inbounded the ball from the sideline and James Yap drew a foul bringing the ball upcourt. Yap split, 79-77, with 21 seconds remaining. With no timeouts left, the Aces pushed the ball and Sonny Thoss drew an and-one on a put-back try, forcing Tim Cone to burn the Mixers' last timeout with 13.2 seconds on the clock. Bowles wound up with the ball atop the key, mismatched against JV Casio. The San Mig import drove and pulled up for a jumper, drawing Casio's final foul. With 4.9 ticks remaining, Bowles missed the first charity but nailed the second. Alaska raced to the other basket and Calvin Abueva found RJ Jazul open for a game-winning layup, but the ball rimmed out to send the game to overtime. Jazul hastily made amends in the extra period, converting an and-one and a three-pointer in quick succession for an 86-80 lead. Simon countered with a floater but the Mixers couldn't recover, as successive turnovers hurt their chances of coming back, 87-82. With a minute to play, James Yap tried to resuscitate San Mig Coffee's offense with a three-point try, only to be blocked by Baguio from behind. Abueva completed the turnover possession with a slam on the other end, 89-82, with 36.7 seconds remaining. Joe Devance missed another shot, a corner heave on the Mixers' next possession, allowing Alaska to dribble out the clock for win. "This thing's really gonna be about defense, and I'm glad the guys responded. It's just another game; we can't get too excited. 2-1 is still nothing, and [SMC] is capable," said Aces head coach Luigi Trillo. "What this win did was it gave us an opportunity to get one more [win] in two games. We're lucky to get this one, but we can't celebrate. "I thought we didn't do a good job in the first half. They did some new things to free James [Yap] and PJ [Simon] and the ball would gravitate to [Denzel] Bowles. They did a great job defensively in the first half," he added. Trillo commended Jazul also for taking the lead in overtime for his team. "RJ's been great. Our team collectively there's no star. They value the team. He was gutsy and he knew we were in the penalty, and he stepped up. Our second group generated the energy." Calvin Abueva notched 11 points in the pivotal third period to led all scorers with 24 and 10 rebounds. Cyrus Baguio added 13 points and four assists, while JV Casio had 12 points and four dimes as well. Robert Dozier and Sonny Thoss chipped in 11 points each, with Dozier adding 19 boards. The Aces capitalized on a 86-67 game two rout on April 29, their first win against former coach Tim Cone after nine tries, and are now a win away from advancing to the Commissioner's Cup finals. Game four will be played on Saturday at Araneta. The first quarter seemed to lack the usual playoff intensity, resulting in the Aces tested the waters from midrange with limited success. In contrast, San Mig Coffee got easy touches around the basket, as Denzel Bowles and Mark Pingris had four apiece to build an 11-4 lead. Alaska tightened things up on defense and caught up, 16-13, on a jumper by Robert Dozier with just over two minutes to play. However, they racked up loose ball fouls in a hurry, allowing consecutive attempts at the rim for Bowles, who wrapped up the quarter for the Mixers with a 19-13 lead. Calvin Abueva's physicality threw off the Mixers in the second quarter. On three straight possessions, Abueva drew an and-one off Raffy Reavis, a charge off Joe Devance, and a technical foul from Alex Mallari. As a result, they went on a 7-0 run, capped by Dozier splitting from the line, to take a 20-19 lead just two minutes into the period. However, the Aces seemed to run out of tricks as soon as San Mig Coffee adjusted to the contact. The Mixers conceded only one field goal over the next seven minutes, while seven different Mixers heaped on a 22-6 run. Defensive breakdowns and turnovers with two and a half minutes to play let the Aces score six straight, capped by a Cyrus Baguio breakaway lay-up, but Alaska exposed the same flaws, conceding straight baskets from Marc Pingris and Bowles in the last 30 seconds, bringing the tally to 45-32 at halftime. San Mig Coffee shot 11-of-18 from the field in the second period (61.1 percent) to notch a 19-of-47 after two quarters (47.5 percent). In contrast, the Aces made just 6-of-20 in the second (30 percent) for 12-of-36 at halftime (33.3 percent). Fueled by a Mark Barroca triple, the Mixers began to pull away in the third quarter, 54-38, but their rally was cut short at around the seven-minute mark. Bowles shoved a sitting Abueva, because the latter tried to kick him after a missed Alaska basket. Both players received technical fouls. However instead of backing down, the rookie put the team on his back as he dropped 11 points in a 13-2 swing on an array of reckless drives to the rack, canning a floater in transition to bring the tally to 56-51 with three minutes left. The Mixers called a timeout and mercifully, Abueva took a rest on the bench when play resumed. Alaska cut the lead to three on a Nick Belasco trey with under two minutes remaining, but the Mixers kept their hold on the lead, adding a last gasp lay-up by Barroca for good measure, to keep a 59-54 advantage. Both teams exchanged baskets in a quick-paced fourth quarter, until Alex Mallari hit a long trey to beat the clock, giving San Mig Coffee an eight-point margin. However he gave it up as he fouled JV Casio on the other end on his own long-range try, and Casio made three from the line. On the next possession Casio caught Mallari on a pick and converted three from the field, 70-67. Casio then scored 10 straight points for the Aces, bringing Alaska within one, 70-69. Possession by possession, the Aces blanked San Mig Coffee on defense until a fastbreak layup by Baguio gave them a 73-72 lead with three minutes to play. San Mig Coffee made 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime, finishing with a 31-of-86 mark (36 percent). Meanwhile the Aces were 12-of-26 (46.2 percent), tallying 33-of-87 for the game (37.9 percent). Alaska held the advantage in fast break points (12-4) and blocks (10-1), while the Mixers led in rebounds (58-53, including 22-19 offensive), second chance points (20-10) and assists (24-18). Denzel Bowles led the Mixers with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Mark Barroca and Marc Pingris notched 15 points and six assists each, with Pingris adding 15 rebounds. - RAF, GMA News   

The scores:

 

ALASKA  89 - Abueva 24, Baguio 13, Casio 12, Dozier 11, Thoss 11, Jazul 6, Belasco 5, Hontiveros 3, Espinas 2, Dela Cruz 2.

 

SAN MIG COFFEE 82 - Bowles 19, Barroca 15, Pingris 15, Mallari 7, Devance 7, Yap 7, Simon 6, Najorda 2, Reavis 2, De Ocampo 2.

 

Quarters: 13-19, 32-45, 54-59, 80-80, 89-82