Alaska came through in the final minute with some key baskets to escape with a hard-fought 103-101 squeaker over pesky Blackwater for its second straight victory in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.
Back-to-back jumpers from Chris Banchero and Sonny Thoss put the Aces on top, 103-100, with 34.3 seconds remaining.
Roi Sumang had a chance to pull the Elite closer after getting fouled, but only managed a split, making it 103-101, still for the Aces, with 30.2 ticks left.
However, that was Blackwater’s last shot as the ball stayed on the Alaska side of the floor the rest of the way until time expired.
Thoss turned back the hands of time, founding some youthful zest as he scored 16 points, to go with five rebounds to help Alaska get through.
Alaska now owns a 2-1 record while unfortunately for Blackwater, it fell to 1-6 near the bottom, having lost its fourth straight victory.
The Elite now need to most likely sweep its remaining four games to remain in the hunt for a spot in the top eight.
Alaska held multiple double-digit leads in the second and third quarters but on all occasions, Blackwater was able to dig itself out of the hole, setting up a tightly fought endgame in the fourth.
The Aces opened up their largest lead, 63-50, with less than eight minutes left in the third quarter, but the Elite roared back to trim its deficit to only three, 72-75, heading to the payoff period.
That set-up a grinding finish down the stretch for both squads.
The scores:
Alaska 103—Teng 18, Cruz 18, Thoss 16, Exciminiano 14, Banchero 11, Ayaay 9, Pascual 8, Galliguez 7, Potts 2, Baclao 0.
Blackwater 101—Maliksi 25, Sumang 18, Digregorio 14, Jose 9, Tratter 7, Belo 7, Sena 6, Cortez 6, Desiderio 4, Alolino 3, Eriobu 2, Javier 0, Banal 0.
Quarters: 29-28, 49-48, 75-72, 103-101.
