ALASKA held NLEX to only three points in the final three minutes to pull off a come-from-behind 90-84 victory and move closer to the semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Dondon Hontiveros came off the bench and provided the spark to finish with 21 points highlighted by five triples. But it was the energy and hustle of Calvin Abueva that helped the Aces get back in the game.
Abueva had another solid performance of 16 points and 19 rebounds to push Alaska to the solo lead with an 8-1 win-loss record.
“It means that we’re playing as a team and hindi pa ganoon kaganda ang opensa namin. But we’re winning games defensively,” Aces Head Coach Alex Compton said.
“We knew how loaded NLEX is. That team can really score but it’s really the character of the players to play defense that helped us with this win,” Compton added.
Jayvee Casio, Cyrus Baguio and Sonny Thoss each had 11 points for the Aces, who trailed 74-81 on Mark Borboran’s jumper with 3:19 left in the game.
But an 8-1 assault capped by Casio’s jumper tied the game for the last time at 82-all with 1:32 remaining.
The Road Warriors muffed successive offensive opportunities, while Alaska took advantage on its end of the court behind Thoss, Abueva and Baguio to seal the victory, 88-82, 15.5 seconds remaining.
Borboran led NLEX with 22 points, while Mark Cardona and Jonas Villanueva chipped in 14 and 13, respectively. Cardona also had 14 boards.
Asi Taulava had a quiet 10-point performance for the Road Warriors, who dropped to 3-6 and are now tied with Barako Bull for the No. 10 spot.
Despite a league-leading 8-1 record, Compton said his wards couldn’t relax in their final two games as Rain or Shine (6-2), whom they play on Friday, could still tie them for one of the top two spots after the eliminations.
“We still have our hands full. We can’t rely on the results of our teams,” Compton said.