MANILA, 9 March 2004 — Alaska Milk survived a ferocious comeback by Purefoods behind two big three-point shots from their backcourt men, scoring a thrilling 91-89 win in the PBA Fiesta Cup on Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Brandon Cablay and Mike Cortez drained triples that sandwiched a semi-hook by Ali Peek, bailing the Aces out of dire trouble after Alaska lost a 12-point lead (49-37) before regaining poise en route to its second win in three games and move into a tie with Brgy. Ginebra in the standings.
All seemed lost after the Aces went into a scoring lull that spanned for four minutes, their woes even aggravated by the loss of Galen Young after he committed his sixth and last foul on an offensive call that drew a technical from a furious Tim Cone.
After rookie James Yap knocked in the technical foul shot, the Hotdogs went up biggest at 87-81, a little over three minutes away from victory despite the absence of Jun Limpot, who suffered a sprained ankle midway in the fourth period, and the loss of import Reggie Butler on fouls also in the final period.
But Alaska simply did not give the fight.
Rob Duat finally ended Alaska’s offensive silence with an undergoal stab, before Cablay drained the first of two triples the Aces had in the waning minutes to trim the deficit to within 86-87.
The only time Purefoods scored was when Noy Castillo, fresh from the bench, canned a fade away that made it 89-86 with 1:34 to go.
Peek, however, got isolated from the left flank and easily scored, before the Hotdogs, without any timeout, struggled in finding the open man and eventually turned over the ball after Richard Yee — who scored 10 points in the last period — tapped the ball out of bounds.
Then came the big blow.
As if the play was meticulously planned, Cortez launched an open shot at the near deep corner, the ball swooshing through the net that proved to be the final count.
Purefoods failed to score anew in its next play, and Cortez was quickly fouled.
But he missed two free throws that gave Purefoods a crack at overtime with 23 ticks remaining. But the Hotdogs took too long to set up the final play and when James Yap managed to fake off a defender for a jump shot, the Alaska defense was pretty much settled enough to send a second guy to challenge the shot.
But Yap’s fadeaway fell short of the mark as time expired, and the Hotdogs went down to their third defeat in four games.
Young led all scorers with 34 points, but was silenced by the defense of Rey Evangelista. Limpot led Purefoods with 17, but couldn’t finish the game due to an ankle injury.
In the second game, Coca-Cola took a 28-point halftime lead, survived a mild scare in the final period and held off Sta. Lucia, 95-89, despite the absence of two key players.
The Tigers played without Rudy Hatfield (stress fracture) and Jeffrey Cariaso (pulled hamstring), their 1-2 punch, and veteran center Poch Juinio (knee injury), but still managed enough to get their second straight win after opening with a loss to Purefoods.
Sta. Lucia, which also played without ace scorer Kenneth Duremdes (calf injury), dropped its third straight game.
Cariaso is expected to be back in the team’s next game, but Hatfield will miss around six to eight weeks because of the fracture in his left foot. Juinio is listed as day-to-day after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in both knees.
