Aces score stunning win over Rain or Shine

This one will pain Rain or Shine even more.
Wanting to prove that its first round conquest of the Elasto Painters was no accident, Alaska completed a more sterling come-from-behind victory last night, 89-84, in overtime, that practically gave the Aces a twice-to-beat slot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.
Dondon Hontiveros shot the Painters right between the eyes, draining six triples in the fourth quarter and in the extra five minutes as Alaska overhauled a 22-point third quarter deficit to regain solo leadership with its ninth win in 12 games at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
And this victory validated Alaska’s 83-81 squeaker in the first round, when the Aces scored five unanswered points in the final 24 seconds and got a huge break with a crucial non-call in the final Rain or Shine offensive.
“I thought this game was lost,” Alaska coach Luigi Trillo told reporters, admitting to how deflated his wards were during the halftime break when the Painters held a 17-point lead. “This one was really big for us, down big and then we came back.” This win was made even more special by the fact that the Aces played the final 3:20 without an import, and they were down, 84-81 after Jeff Chan picked up the sixth foul of Robert Dozier.
“It’s just the players, they took it upon themselves to focus in. They scratched and clawed until the end,” Trillo added.
Overall, Hontiveros hit seven total treys and the Aces knocked down a total of 11 as a team. Alaska also took care of the ball better in the second half, committing just five turnovers after committing six in the first quarter alone.
Rain or Shine dropped to solo second with the loss at 8-4, but the Painters remained holding a firm grip of that spot after Meralco upset Petron Blaze, 102-92 earlier in the night.
The Meralco win, fueled by 57 Eric Dawson points, gave the Bolts and the Boosters identical 6-5 records, almost two games behind the Painters, who have Meralco and Barako Bull as their last foes.
Dawson came up with the biggest scoring performance since Derrick Brown also scored the same for defunct Sta. Lucia in the 2004 Fiesta Conference.
Finishing in the top two would mean a great advantage in the quarterfinals as it would mean beating either No. 7 or 8 just once to advance to the Final Four.
Team Nos. 3 and 4 will then slug it out with Nos. 6 and 5, respectively, in separate best-of-three series for the other two semifinal round slot.
“Things are looking good (in the race for a top two berth),” Trillo said. “But it’s not yet guaranteed. One more win would give us that.” Alaska closes out with games against streaking Barangay Ginebra and slumping Globalport, which fights for dear life today against Talk ‘N Text in an out-of-town game slated at the University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo City.
Hontiveros’ 22 points were his most in the last two seasons and his biggest since being acquired by the Aces as part of the LA Tenorio-JV Casio deal before the start of the season.
The Alaska comeback was also the second-biggest this year, with, ironically enough, the Painters still holding the record of 26 points against Meralco in a 109-98 overtime win last November in the Philippine Cup eliminations.
Dozier still paced the Aces with 23 points, eight rebounds and two blocks and Cyrus Baguio, with a bad back and all, contributed 12. Casio returned to active duty to fire nine.
Bruno Sundov also finished with 23 points, had 13 rebounds and five assists to pace the Painters, who shot a pathetic 2-of-25 from three-point distance and 18-of-34 from the stripe to seal their doom.