Tenorio’s heave from close to 30 feet out bounced off the glass and into the rim as the Aces survived the loss of a 31-point first half lead to pound out an 89-86 victory over the Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Dondon Hontiveros tied the game at 86 with a trey with 5.6 seconds left, and the Aces, left with no more timeouts, gave the ball to Tenorio who made a mad dash for their side of the floor before launching the game-winner off Alex Cabagnot.
Alaska snapped a two-game slide with the victory and improved to 6-7, still in seventh spot and with just a game to go, against Rain or Shine, in the eliminations.
“At least we made it thrilling,” Alaska coach Tim Cone said in jest before admitting that until now, he still doesn’t know what’s bugging his team in final halves of this tournament.
“This (result) just continues to prove that we can’t play in the fourth quarter,” Cone explained. “LA is out there playing his heart out but no one is helping him. We’re missing Willie (Miller) a little bit. He was our (former) closer.” The Aces traded the former two-time MVP Miller to Barangay Ginebra for Cyrus Baguio late last season. And though Alaska had won the Fiesta Conference with Baguio, Cone still doesn’t have a player of Miller’s caliber that can truly close out games.
Like Sunday night, when Alaska erected a 67-36 lead with 1:31 left in the second period, most everyone in the Big Dome thought that it would be a cruise the rest of the way for the Aces.
Suddenly, it looked like there was a lid on the basket for the Aces, who scored just 15 points in the third period and was held to just seven until that Tenorio basket that came a millisecond before the game’s final buzzer.
“There’s an American expression – “Deer in the headlights,” Cone said before explaining in what state his squad is into right now.
“If you ever watch a deer on the road, when lights come on, they freeze. That’s what we are right now,” Cone said. “We’re not sure what we want to do. We’ve worked on it the whole week and still, we’re struggling.” Struggling was a tame word for the Alaska coach to use, as his Aces looked desperate in the second half, especially when the Beermen made a run by chopping down a 26-point halftime deficit to 10 several times near the end of the third period.
And San Miguel, which closed out its elimination round stint with an 11-3 record, doggedly fought it out in the fourth behind Hontiveros and Danny Seigle as the Beermen made a game out of it.
Seigle scored six straight points at one stage in the stretch and put San Miguel within 86-89 with 1:50 left before watching Alaska miss at least four attempts prior to that Hontiveros triple.
Meanwhile, the quarterfinal cast was completed in haste earlier in the night after Air21 nipped Barako Bull, 82-77.
Sensational rookie Rabeh Al-Hussaini scored 30 points, 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter, as the Express booted out idle Powerade by rising to 5-7 overall.
Al-Hussaini’s total was just a point off his career-high, but coach Yeng Guiao branded his center’s effort as the best in his young pro career, as he came to the Express’ rescue when the chips were down.
Nonoy Baclao, the other half of Guiao’s twin towers, had 11 points and 11 boards.
“Rabeh played his career game so far,” Air21 coach Yeng Guiao told reporters. “Perhaps, it’s a glimpse of his potential if his mind is in the game (and) if he’s serious about his purpose.”
