Alaska rallies to beat Meralco in semis opener

PBA

By Ivan Saldajeno

QUEZON CITY--Alaska pulled off a huge fourth quarter run to down Meralco, 97-94, in Game 1 of their PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinals match-up at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Monday night.

Down by nine early in the fourth, the Aces launched a big 20-6 run later in the period and withstood one final push from the Bolts to go 1-0 up in their best-of-five affair.

Meralco led, 82-73, with 11:21 remaining in the game, but Alaska quickly retaliated with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to two with 9:53 remaining.

Chris Newsome then scored a pull-up jumper to stretch the gap back to four only to be answered by another 7-0 Aces rally that gave them the lead, 87-84, with 5:24 to go. They would stretch the lead to five, 93-88.

Cliff Hodge the Bolts at it with a three-pointer that cut the lead to just two, 93-91, with 2:57 to go, but Calvin Abueva answered with a long two with 2:30 remaining.

Meralco slowly crawled back as they hit three free throws coupled by a missed trey from Abueva to draw to within one, 94-95, with 32.8 seconds left.

Cyrus Baguio failed to stretch Alaska's lead when he missed a triple, but Rob Dozier grabbed the offensive rebound and gave the ball back to Baguio, who swished two charities off a foul from Jared Dillinger.

Jimmy Alapag committed a huge error for the Bolts as he dished a bad pass with five seconds left, but Dozier failed to seal the win for the Aces as he missed two free throws in the ensuing play.

Ronjay Buenafe missed the potential equalizing basket from beyond the arc at the buzzer, finally letting Alaska escape with the hard-fought win.

RJ Jazul tallied 18 points, two assists, three steals, and one block, while Abueva added 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals to lead the way for the Aces.

Reynel Hugnatan made 21 markers, six boards, and four dimes off the bench for the Bolts.

Dozier and Arinze Onuaku both had a quiet outing as the Alaska import only tallied seven points while his Meralco counterpart only made 11.

Box Scores:

Alaska 97-Jazul 18, Abueva 15, Baguio 13, Banchero 10, Exciminiano 9, Dozier 7, Menk 7, Baclao 6, Hontiveros 6, Thoss 4, Dela Cruz 2, Dela Rosa 0

Meralco 94-Hugnatan 21, Hodge 14, Dillinger 12, Caram 11, Onuaku 11, Faundo 8, Newsome 7, Bono 6, Alapag 2, Amer 2, Ry. Buenafe 0, Ro. Buenafe 0

Quarterscores: 26-23, 43-48, 71-79, 97-94

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