PBA: Alaska survives anew, forces do-or-die with top-seeded Ginebra

(Updated 10:31pm) The Alaska Aces are showing they have a little never-say-die in their veins too.

The Aces prolonged their stay in the PLDT MyDSL 2014 PBA Philippine Cup, winning a third do-or-die game in four days, this one an upset of the top-seeded Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 104-97, on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Just to get into the quarterfinals, Alaska needed to beat Barako Bull Energy Cola on Sunday, and then dispatch Meralco in a playoff. They can wipe out Ginebra's twice-to-beat advantage and advance to the semifinals with a win on Saturday.

After a disappointing sophomore season up to this point, Calvin Abueva turned in a throwback performance to his Rookie of the Year campaign, coming off the bench for 16 points on 50 percent shooting, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals, to get Best Player of the Game honors.

[Infographic: #1 Ginebra vs #8 Alaska]

Alaska's fluid offense, as opposed to Ginebra's hurried attempts, netted them a 10-2 lead off consecutive triples from Jvee Casio and Dondon Hontiveros. Ginebra called an early timeout, and though the Aces didn't concede any easy buckets, the Barangay earned their points from the stripe. Midway through the frame, LA Tenorio, Mark Caguioa and Chris Ellis broke away on the break to catapult their team to a 17-15 lead.

The Aces though checked Ginebra and conceded just one field goal in the last three minutes, while Sonny Thoss capped the period with two straight buckets to take a 23-20 lead.

Calvin Abueva's fearless play early in the second quarter netted him five straight points, spurring Alaska to a 35-24 lead. However, Ginebra stayed close courtesy of Josh Urbiztondo's three treys, plus another from JJ Helterbrand, to trim the gap to two, 44-42, with four minutes to play.

However, Alaska leaned on their backcourt veterans to close the half, as Casio and Cyrus Baguio scored 10 of their last 11 points to keep Ginebra away at arm's length after two quarters. 55-51.


The Aces controlled the game for most of the third quarter and attacked the basket in response to alternating shots from Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter. Ginebra trimmed the lead once to two off Aguilar charities, 67-65, but struggled to get over the hump. Casio's lethal shooting led the Aces with five points during an 13-6 stretch, remaining on top 80-71 after three quarters.

In the fourth, Alaska ripped open a 15-point lead after Hontiveros and RJ Jazul connected from deep, and a defensive breakdown led to an open layup for Sonny Thoss, 88-73. Ginebra rallied behind Caguioa and JJ Helterbrand's forays in the paint, combining for eight points in an 11-4 counterpunch that brought the lead to single digits, 92-84.

Once again, however, Casio and Hontiveros doused the flames with three-pointers, while Gabby Espinas exploited Ginebra's suspect defense down low en route to a 10-2 run, 102-86, with 3:35 left.

The Barangay tried to rally back with seven straight points, including a Caguioa trey and a Slaughter jam, 102-93, with two minutes to play, but couldn't muster the energy to retake the game. Espinas slammed the ball home with under a minute left to put a fitting exclamation on the Aces' third do-or-die match in as many games.

Dondon Hontiveros and Cyrus Baguio were on fire for Alaska, both scoring 18 points. Hontiveros canned 5-of-8 three-pointers, to go with his five boards, four assists and two swipes, while Baguio was 7-of-12 from the field, and also handed out five assists.

Jvee Casio scored 16, while Sonny Thoss had a double-double of 13 points and 10 caroms.

Japeth Aguilar played nearly the entire game, 45 minutes, putting up 22 points, 12 rebounds and two swats, but he got most of his points from the foul line, where he was 12-of-13, as opposed to shooting from the field (5-of-13).

LA Tenorio poured in 16 points, four rebounds and seven assists, Mark Caguioa scored 15, Josh Urbiztondo 13, and 2013 top pick Greg Slaughter provided a double-double of 12 points and 14 boards.

Barangay Ginebra got huge leads in fast break points (16-2), and second-chance points (16-4), but Alaska simply shot better than them. The Aces connected on 12-of-20 three-pointers, a mark that was better than their overall shooting, which was 41-of-83 (49.4 percent). On the other hand, Ginebra made just 8-of-30 outside shots, and was 34-of-84 (40.5 percent) overall. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Alaska 104 - Hontioveros 18, Baguio 18, Casio 16, Abueva 16, Thoss 13, Espinas 12, Jazul 10, Eman 1, Belasco 0, Dela Cruz 0, Eximiniano 0

Ginebra 97 - Aguilar 22, Tenorio 16, Caguioa 15, Urbiztondo 13, Slaughter 12, Helterbrand 9, Ellis 4, Reyes 4, Baracael 2, ababou 0, Monfort 0

Quarter scoring: 23-20, 55-51, 80-71, 104-97