MANILA — The Alaska Aces bounced back from a stinging defeat, using their deep bench to smother the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 100-76, in the highly physical Game 2 of their best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series on Tuesday night. The Aces thus tied the series at 1-1 heading into Game 3 Friday. Chris Banchero and RJ Jazul both came off the bench to lead the Alaska offense, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively. Jvee Casio added 13 markers while Calvin Abueva had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebound. Sonny Thoss chipped in 10 points. With both teams resorting to a highly physical game, tempers eventually flared leading to skirmishes among opposing players as early as the first quarter. Alaska's Abueva and Dondon Hontiveros and GlobalPort's Anthony Semerad and Jay Washington plus the coaches and other officials of both teams were all whistled for technical fouls numbering 13 in all. After a tight first half, the Aces began pulling away in the second, outscoring the Batang Pier 28-15 and 25-16, in the third and fourth periods, respectively. Terrence Romeo, who exploded for a new career-high 41 points in the series opener, was once again in sharp form at the start of the game, scoring 10 of GlobalPort's first 12 points. He finished the first half with already 18 points to his name. However, Romeo suddenly cooled off in the second half, scoring only two points to finish the game with 20 markers. Stanley Pringle was GlobalPort's top scorer with 22 points with Joseph Yeo and Washington adding 11 and 10 markers, respectively. With Alaska ahead by 15 points, 75-60, at the start of the fourth quarter, Pringle led a GlobalPort uprising to cut the Aces' lead to eight, 75-67. But that was as far as the Batang Pier could go as the Aces put the game away with a 15-4 run to take a 90-71 lead with just four minutes left. Game Thursday: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vs. San Miguel Beermen (Game 2 of best-of-7 semifinals; SMB ahead 1-0).
