Fired up Alaska slips past feisty Air21

MANILA, Philippines – The Alaska Aces and the Air21 Express once again had to go through extra minutes to determine a winner.

Riding on Calvin Abueva’s energy and the explosive first showing of rookie Ping Exciminiano, the Alaska Aces notched their second win at the expense of the hapless Air21 Express in overtime, 97-91, in the PLDT myDSL Philippine Cup on Wednesday, December 4 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.

Right from tip-off, Air21 played aggressively and out-hustled Alaska as they rallied to build an early 16-9 lead ending the opening canto. Alaska struggled mightily from the field with a 19% field goal shooting clip and only two perimeter points in the first quarter, as they couldn’t get their offensive sets going. Alaska didn’t stop from trying to execute, however, and kept on taking open jumpers whenever available.

Their patience paid off when a triple by Cyrus Baguio at the 7:37 mark of the third sparked some perimeter jumpers to fall for Alaska. 

Calvin Abueva, who is expected to be the energizer bunny every time Alaska comes up flat, fulfilled his role by being aggressive and injecting much needed energy into his teammates. With under 3 minutes left in the third, Abueva fired up his teammates as he drove into the gut of the defense and got a basket to fall to trail by only two, 43-45.

For the most part, Alaska had trouble breaking past the 2-point deficit. It took a triple by rookie Ping Exciminiano with 1:03 left in the third for Alaska to finally get a taste of the lead, 48-45.

Exciminiano, playing in his first PBA game, proved to be a revelation for coach Luigi Trillo as he drained 4 triples for his 16 points. 

The game went down the wire with both squads executing pristine plays as Vic Manuel and Mark Cardona delivered clutch baskets for Air21, while Sonny Thoss made good on a jump hook to knot the game at 80 with 33.5 seconds left. That much time was not enough for both squads to engineer a successul game-winning play.

Overtime was a nip-and-tuck affair as well with both teams exchanging baskets. Alaska had the early upperhand with 5 straight points from Tony Dela Cruz and RJ Jazul. Abueva once again delivered the goods by completing and and-one play to make it a two-possession ball game, 93-89, with 1:18 left to play. 

Manuel kept Air21 within striking distance with a floater but two charities by Jazul pushed the lead back up to 4, 95-91, with 22 seconds left. Air21 muffed the following possession and absorbed their fifth straight loss.

Abueva was a force for the Aces with 19 points, 9 rebounds and four assists.-with reports from Jane Bracher/Rappler.com