MANILA, Philippines – The Alaska Aces would not go down this time.

After suffering back-to-back losses to open its 2018 Philippine Cup campaign, Alaska finally nabbed its first victory of the season at the expense of the Meralco Bolts, 103-98, at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday, January 10.

Trailing by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, 74-84, the Bolts made things interesting as they went on a 9-3 run to cut their deficit to 4, 83-87.

However, soon as Meralco threatened to make a comeback, the Aces always had an answer to protect their lead.

Kevin Racal buried two straight treys to retaliate KG Canaleta and Baser Amer’s back-to-back treys, 93-86, before Calvin Abueva completed a 3-point play that put Alaska up by 8, 96-88, with only 1:24 left in the game.

Abueva starred for the Aces with 19 points, 9 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals while Vic Manuel chipped in 19 points and 4 rebounds.

Both teams are tied with 1-2 win-loss cards.

– Rappler.com