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JONATHAN
Aldave made sure that his exploits won’t go down the
drain.
The
former Letran sniper hit a back-breaking three-pointer
in the closing minute that allowed
Toyota to silence Pharex’s late run to escape with a 104-99 win
Thursday night in the 2008 Philippine Basketball League
(PBL) Amino Sports Cup at the
Oreta Sports Center
in Malabon City.
Aldave’s
triple capped his 25-point performance in 25 minutes of
play and gave the Sparks the chance to secure the
twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinal round.
Toyota has two games left in the eliminations.
“At
least our fate is in our hands. We just have to deal
with our last two games,” said Toyota head coach Ariel
Vanguardia, who dedicated the win to team owner Rey Oben,
whose mother died Thursday.
The
Sparks improved to 6-7 (won-lost) and tied their victims
in the team standings. They will play Noosa Shoes on
Saturday and San Mig Coffee on Tuesday to complete their
elimination-round schedule.
Toyota
appeared to have the game in the bag after building a
90-67 advantage buy the Medics came close at 87-93 with
2:23 remaining.
After
Emerson Oreta split his free throws to make it 88-94,
Aldave was left open at the top of the key for the
three-pointer that dashed the Medics’ hopes, 97-88, 1:35
remaining.
Patrick
Cabahug added 21 points for the Sparks, while Chito
Jaime chipped in 17. Ronnie Bughao and Oreta each had 19
markers for Pharex, which is still in the hunt for the
twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
In the
first game, Bacchus Energy refused to be booted out
early after pulling off a 74-70 upset over semifinalist
Hapee Toothpaste.
With
their backs against the wall, the Raiders went off to a
blistering start and weathered the Complete Protectors’
fourth-quarter surge to keep their hopes alive for a
quarterfinals seat.
The win
ended Bacchus’s five-game losing streak. They are now
5-9, but to advance, they have to beat powerful Harbour
Centre (12-0) in their last game and hope that Toyota
Otis and San Mig Coffee won’t reach seven wins.
“We have
a very slim chance to get into the next round but we
will still go for it,” said Bacchus head coach Lawrence
Chongson, who a got a big lift from Rey Guevarra and Nat
Cruz in the final canto to survive Hapee’s uprising.
Christian Luanzon had a game-high 15 points to go along
with his eight rebounds but the heroic of Guevarra and
Cruz in the closing minutes preserved the win for the
Raiders.
Guevarra
poured all of his 10 points in Bacchus’s 14-6 run that
turned a slim 54-51 lead to a comfortable 68-57
advantage with 1:35 left in the game.
But Mark
Borboran hit a three-pointer that sparked a quick 7-1
exchange to slice the lead to 64-69, 32.5 ticks left.
Then
Cruz hit his first pair of crucial free throws in the
ensuing play, 70-64 before Gabe Norwood sank two
freebies and Reed Juntilla buried a three-pointer off a
Bacchus turnover that put them back in the game, 69-70,
14.4 seconds remaining.
Cruz was
sent to the 15-foot line by Jim Viray and the 6’4
forward-center calmly made both free throws that gave
the Raiders some distance, 72-69.
Hapee
could not get a clean look for a three-pointer for the
tie as Ramsey Williams sent Norwood to the free throw
line. The Fil-Am sensation made the first but
intentionally missed the second, hoping for an offensive
board.
But Cruz
was there to collar the rebound and peg the final score
with two more free throws.
Borboran
netted 14 points while
Norwood,
Larry Rodriguez and Earn Saguindel each had 10 markers
for the Complete Protectors, who already clinched the
second automatic semis seat with a rugged win 72-68 over
San Mig Coffee last Tuesday in
Muntinlupa
City.
They dropped to 9-5. |
