The Columbian Dyip relied on an unstoppable inside-outside offense to beat the Alaska Aces, 117-110, in the first game of the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup yesterday, September 20 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Import Khapri Alston relied on his prodigious girth and heft to score repeatedly inside while CJ Perez and Rashawn McCarthy led the Columbian shooters who sniped from outside.
Alston finished with 38 points and 22 boards to lead his team to the convincing victory.
From a 56-all tie at halftime Columbian built a big 12 point, 93-81, lead in the third which they never gave up.
The Aces came storming back from a huge deficit but their rally ultimately fell short.
Rookie Abu Tratter and import Justin Watts teamed up late in the game to almost erase the Columbian advantage.
Tratter relied on speed and explosiveness to power inside from the left baseline to score to cut the Columbian lead to just six points, 101-107, with just 1:23 to go in the game.
Columbian countered with two free throws by Perez and a field goal by Glenn Khobuntin to extend the gap back to 10 points.
But the Aces just would not give up. Watts drilled a three-pointer followed by free throws by Tratter to cut the gap back to five, 106-111.
Perez converted two more free throws to extend the Columbian Dyip but the energetic Tratter barreled inside once again to score on a layup which cut the gap back to just five markers, 108-113, with 26 seconds left to play.
The Aces then forced a turnover and a strong play by Tratter sent him back to the line. But Tratter missed both free throws while Columbian Dyip’s Rashawn McCarthy converted two free throws to push the score beyond recall, 108-116, with 14 ticks to go.
Jvee Casio converted a free throw while Perez added another free throw to finalize the count, 110-117.
Chris Banchero, who averaged more than 18 points a game last conference converted his first and only field goal early in the fourth. He added a bonus free throw to finish the game with three points.
The scores:
Columbian Dyip 117—Khapri Alston 38, CJ Perez 28, Glenn Khobuntin 16, Rashawn McCarthy 11, Juami Tiongson 11, Eric Camson 5, Lervin Flores 4, JP Calvo 4, JR Reyes 0, Reden Celda 0, Philip Gabayni 0, Andreas Cahilig 0.
Alaska Aces 110—Justin Watts 40, Abu Tratter 14, Vic Manuel 14, Simon Enciso 11, Jesper Ayaay 9, Sonny Thoss 6, Abel Galliguez 6, Jvee Casio 4, Chris Banchero 3, Noy Baclao 2, Jake Pascual 0.
Quarter scores: 28-22, 56-56, 93-81, 117-110.
