Jay R. Gotera
Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The Alaska Aces showed endgame poise en route to an 82-69 drubbing of the GlobalPort Batang Pier in Game 3 of their best-of-7 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals Friday night.
Alaska and GlobalPort engaged in a fierce skirmish for three quarters before the Aces unleashed an 11-0 blast at the start of the final period that proved to be the turning point of the game.
After dropping Game 1, Alaska scored a second straight win to lead the series 2-1 going into Sunday’s Game 4.
Vic Manuel paced the Aces with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks. RJ Jazul continued playing solidly off the bench, coming up with another double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. JVee Casio and Chris Banchero scored 10 points apiece while Calvin Abueva finished with nine point and 15 huge rebounds.
GlobalPort came out on fire with an 11-3 run at the start of the game. But Alaska countered with an even more impressive 23-2 run to take a 26-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The two teams traded runs again in the second quarter, with GlobalPort making a 10-2 blast, only to be countered by an 8-0 run by Alaska, which led 36-26 at halftime.
The Batang Pier regained the lead in the third quarter, 43-41, but this did not last long as the Aces quickly equalised, resulting in a 53-53 deadlock at the end of that quarter.
The Aces then wasted no time in asserting their strength at the start of the fourth quarter as they pushed their lead to eight, 65-57.
The Batang Pier then ran out of firepower as the Aces pulled away.
Terrence Romeo led GlobalPort with 17 points but was held to just 7-for-23 (30 percent) shooting before he was ejected midway in the fourth quarter after incurring a second technical foul.
Stanley Pringle was likewise limited to just 12 points while Doug Kramer had 11. No other Batang Pier managed to score in double digits.
GlobalPort as a team shot a miserable 24-for-91 (26 percent) from the field and a horrible 2 of 31 (6 percent) from three-point range.
Game Saturday: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs. San Miguel Beermen (Game 3 of best-of-7 semifinals; Series tied 1-1).
