MANILA — The Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters scored a huge 79-73 victory over crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra Kings on Sunday night to become just the second team to secure a quarterfinals berth in the PBA Philippine Cup. From the middle of the pack, the Fuel Masters suddenly found themselves at second place with a 6-4 win-loss card just behind conference leader San Miguel Beer (9-1). With one elimination round game left, Phoenix now has a clear shot of taking the No. 2 seed with a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. Ginebra fell to a 5-5 card in a tie with Blackwater at seventh to eighth spot. The Fuel Masters took advantage of the absence of Japeth Aguilar, Ginebra's injured top scorer and rebounder, who suffered an elbow injury in the Kings' last game, to dominate the Kings from start to finish. Rookie Matthew Wright led Phoenix with 18 points, including a three-pointer late in the game that sealed the win for his team. Alaska 107, Mahindra 91 The Alaska Aces bounced back from a stinging loss in their last game to dash the playoff hopes of the Mahindra Floodbuster with a hard-fought 107-91 victory, their fifth in nine games. Alaska thus enhanced their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals and even a shot at the Top 2 spot with a twice- to-beat advantage as they joined three teams — TNT, GlobalPort, Rain or Shine — tied at third to fifth place in the standings. Mahindra absorbed its seventh loss in nine games, virtually crashing out of the conference with two games left in its elimination round schedule. The Floodbuster's loss also eliminated two other teams — NLEX and Meralco. As a result, the Aces hiked their win-loss record to 5-4, while handing the Floodbuster their seventh loss in nine games. Mahindra's loss also meant that two other teams at the bottom — NLEX (2-7) and Meralco (3-7) — are now mathematically out of the running for the Top 8 spots in the quarterfinals even if they win their last elimination round matches. Alaska and Mahindra fought tooth-and-nail for three quarters before the Aces switched on their afterburners midway in the fourth quarter to pull away for good. The two teams were tied at 76-all early in the final period before the Aces unleashed a 31-13 run. Vic Manuel came off the bench to lead the Alaska offense with a team-high 20 points on an efficient 9-for-13 shooting. Calvin Abueva also played a huge role in the victory, finishing with 18 points, 10 boards, three blocks, one assist, and one steal in 27 minutes. JVee Casio added 11 points while RJ Jazul and Kevin Racal chipped in nine markers apiece. Gilas 24-man pool named Gilas head coach Chot Reyes on Sunday announced the 12 players who will join the 12 cadets in the team that will represent the Philippines in FIBA Asia games this year in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Reyes surprisingly included LA Revilla of Mahindra and Norbert Torres of Phoenix in the list. Reyes also picked the expected top choices: Alaska's Calvin Abueva, Ginebra's Japeth Aguilar, GlobalPort's Terrence Romeo, SMB's June Mar Fajardo, Star's Paul Lee, and TNT's Jayson Castro, who is expected to shelve his earlier retirement plans. There were four other surprise picks: Meralco's Jonathan Grey, NLEX's Bradwyn Guinto, Rain or Shine's Raymond Almazan and Blackwater's Art Dela Cruz, Among the surprise omissions are Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine and Star forward Marc Pingris, who were part of the Gilas team from the 2013 Fiba Asia championship to last year's Fiba Olympic qualifiers. Games on Wednesday: Star Hotshots (4-4) vs. Blackwater Elite (5-5) and TNT KaTropa (5-4) vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-4).
