Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — The Alaska Aces survived a second sudden-death match, hacking out a nail-biting 94-91 win against the hard-fighting Meralco Bolts in their playoff for the last quarterfinals slot of the PBA PLDT Home DSL Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena Monday night. The Aces thus arranged another do-or-die quarterfinals match against the top seeded and twice-to-beat Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings Wednesday night. Just the night before, Alaska fought grimly to survive its first all-or-nothing match by beating the Barako Bull Energy Cola. The Bolts bowed out of the tournament but not after giving the Aces a huge scare in the endgame. Down by 17 points in the third quarter, the Bolts fought the Aces tooth and nail, managing to cut the deficit by 10 points, 60-70, heading to the final quarter. Led by Gary David, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, the Bolts kept on chewing Alaska's lead, cutting it down to five, 90-85, with less than a minute left. David then buried a tightly contested three-point shot from deep left and at the same time drew the sixth and last foul of Alaska's Jvee Casio. David coolly sank the extra free throw to cut Alaska's lead to a whisker. In the ensuing play, Sonny Thoss quickly tried to pad Alaska's lead as he drove hard to the basket, drawing a foul from Reynel Hugnatan. However, Thoss missed both free throws, giving Meralco another shot to steal the game. Once again, Meralco turned to David to deliver the goods. But the streak-shooting Meralco guard was handcuffed by the stingy defense of Alaska's Cyrus Baguio, forcing him to miss a tough shot. With time running out, the Bolts were forced to foul Dondon Hontiveros who drilled both free throws with 8.7 ticks left. Jared Dillinger quickly sprinted for a layup to cut Alaska's lead back to a point. Once again, Meralco elected to foul Hontiveros to stop the clock. The veteran shooter once again converted both free throws, with 4.5 seconds left. With no timeout left, Meralco's Cliff Hodge threw up a desperation shot from near midcourt that didn't even touch the rim as the final buzzer sounded. Bouncing back from a mediocre performance against the Barako Bull, Thoss led Alaska with 21 points Monday night. Hontiveros added 20 points on 8-of-9 free throw shooting. Gabby Espinas and Baguio finished with 16 points apiece, while diminutive Casio added 13 points and, remarkably, a team-high nine rebounds. Back-up point guard Paul Artadi contributed 15 points and seven rebounds for Meralco. Cliff Hodge added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Dillinger had 12 points and eight boards. Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo saluted the brave but fallen Bolts after the match. “You commend Meralco, they didn't give up,” he said. “We needed to weather that storm of theirs.” Games Tuesday (Jan. 21): Petron Blaze vs. Barako Bull; Talk N Text vs. San Mig Super Coffee.
