Aces secure q’finals seat with win over NLEX
Games today:
Mall of Asia Arena
3:00 p.m.- Mahindra vs. Meralco
5:15 p.m.- San Miguel Beer vs. Star
THE ALASKA Aces assured themselves of a quarterfinal seat after they thwarted the NLEX Road Warriors, 89-81, yesterday in the 41st PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces padded their winning streak to three and seized the solo number one spot with their sixth win in seven games.
The win put Alaska in a better position to earn one of the two outright semifinals berth.
“Every team in the league would love to get the twice-to-beat, but we have a lot of tough games and I don’t know if any of them will be easy for us,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.
Alaska led by as many as 20 points in the third period, 62-42, but NLEX came roaring back in the fourth.
A 9-0 run by NLEX cut Alaska’s lead to just four, 82-78, with 1:52 left.
Jvee Casio shut the door on the Road Warriors when he knocked a triple that stretched Alaska’s lead to 85-78 with 1:41 to go.
“We talked about the defensive mind set we needed in this game, but we wasn’t happy about our decisions in the fourth quarter,” said Compton, lamenting Alaska’s failure to finish the game strong.
Sonny Thoss powered the Aces with 16 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.
Vic Manuel added 11 points, nine boards and two blocks. Rome dela Rosa and Calvin Abueva also scored in twin digits for the Aces with 11 and 10, respectively.
Sean Anthony scored finished 21 markers for NLEX, which saw its two-game win streak come to an end to drop to 4-3.
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