MANILA, 7 June 2008 — Alaska hurdled a big test of character, and Willie Miller again added to his legacy as a premier clutch player.
Miller rifled in the winning jumper with 1.7 seconds left last night as Alaska escaped with an 86-84 decision of Air21 that put the Aces above the middle of the Fiesta Cup pack at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.
And it was a win that was doubly satisfying for Alaska coach Tim Cone, whose wards came into the game the winners of their last four games “ none of them coming in the same hard manner as this one.
“We tried to hold off teams in our last four (victories) and today was the biggest test of our character because we also had to execute in the stretch,” Cone later said after his defending champion Alaska rose to 7-6 to tie idle Magnolia and Talk ‘N Text.
“It was such a tough battle because both teams have been playing well,” he said.
Air21 fell off a tie for the lead with the loss, their sixth in 14 games and first in its last three assignments. Both teams came into the game with a combined six-game winning streak.
“They (Express) are deserving of where they are now,” Cone said of Air21. “They’ve been playing good basketball. They have been very organized. We can tell that what they’ve so far achieved is no fluke.
Arwind Santos forged the game’s last tie at 84 with a three-pointer off the backboard with 17.1 seconds to play.
Cone immediately sued for time and drew up a play that made import Randy Holcomb the first option and the reigning MVP Miller the second.
But something went wrong somewhere, forcing Miller to dribble a lot of time off the clock and go for the winning shot while leaving very little time for the Express to draw up a play of their own.
Cone elected to go for Holcomb first, after his import scattered 13 of his 17 points in the fourth period, his last basket giving the Aces an 82-80 lead with 44.7 to go.
“Randy played the way we wanted him, even if he was scoreless in the first half,” Cone said. “And he got hot in the fourth period and was one of the reasons why we won this game.”
Miller’s game-winning shot actually saved the Aces from suffering a total offensive breakdown. Up by 80-71 with 3:29 left after Holcomb completed a three-point play off Steven Thomas, Alaska would only score again when Holcomb made it 82-80.
Air21, meanwhile, strung up a run that knotted the count at 80, when Thomas scored on a baby hook over Holcomb with 66 seconds remaining.
The Express had a chance to win the game outright, but Santos’s desperation heave from three-point distance was a tad short at the buzzer.
Barangay Ginebra found a Kelly Williams-less Sta. Lucia side easy picking later in the night, breaking away in the second period for commanding leads before cruising to a 112-104 victory.
The Gin Kings got the goods from almost everyone in the breakaway period to improve to 5-8 overall while dealing the reigning Philippine Cup champion Realtors a third straight beating.
Williams had to fly back to the United States to wed his long-time girlfriend, and the Realtors looked like headless chicken all night, as they fell behind by as many as 23 points, 79-56 and 81-58, late in the third period.
The Kings later bloated this to 26 at the start of the fourth, only to lose some steam when the Realtors scored a season-best 46 in the period.
Jamar Brown, the new Sta. Lucia import, remained winless in two games and is in danger of suffering the same fate as that of his predecessor, Wesley Wilson. He scored just six points in 31 minutes.
Jay-Jay Helterbrand tossed in 31 points to lead all local scorers, while while import Chris Alexander was again assertive underneath with 25 rebounds and a PBA career-high 35 points.
Ronald Tubid, who had 10 points in the second period, finished with a tournament-best 17 points. Dennis Espino led the Realtors with 28 markers while Nelbert Omolon added 19 points in starting out at the forward spot.
