Especially down the stretch.
Joe DeVance knocked in six of his 19 points in the last 1:49, helping Alaska thwart a determined comeback by Derby Ace from 16 points down in a 97-91 victory as the Aces sustained their steady rise in the standings of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Araneta Colizeum.
DeVance broke the last deadlock at 89 with a follow-up off a three-point miss by LA Tenorio, and then hit four straight free throws inside the final 1:07 as Alaska picked up its fourth win with its only defeat coming at the hands of guest team Smart-Gilas last March 4 via overtime, 91-89.
“The game came down to which team makes the plays down the stretch,” said Aces’ coach Tim Cone. “Joe getting the rebounds off the shots, that’s what great players do. You take anything at this point. Luckily we held on and came out on top.”
Talk ‘N Text, the franchise seeking to become the first back-to-back champion since Ginebra in 2005, meantime, rolled to a 99-78 win over erstwhile undefeated Rain or Shine, joining Alaska in joint second.
The Tropang Texters thus ended the Elasto Painters’ franchise-best start in the league, dealing Rain or Shine an embarrassing defeat and a lesson that it still has long ways to go to contend with the PBA’s top dogs.
“We approached this game as a continuous two-game series,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes. “We met Friday a winless team and today an undefeated team. The mindset in the games this weekend were different. I’m just so happy that we were able to come out on top without two of our key players.”
Jason Castro, the co-Finals MVP in the Philippine Cup, and Jared Dillinger again missed suiting up for the Texters. Castro has a sprained knee while Dillinger a strained shoulder.
Those absences, however, were not enough to leave a gaping hole on the Texters.
Paul Harris scored 32 points while Ali Peek and Kelly Williams submitted double-double statistics. Peek had 23 points and 10 rebounds while Williams added 10 points and 11 boards as Talk ‘N Text notched its fourth win in a row after starting out with a 103-98 loss to Smart-Gilas.
“That’s what a team is all about, other players stepping forward if the others are not playing their usual game,” Reyes said. “Ali Peek really stepped up.”
Hassan Adams, whom Reyes agreed to as the ‘best import right now,’ topscored for Rain or Shine with 26 points, but was scoreless in the fourth quarter at the time when the outcome was never in doubt.
Talk ‘N Text’s last sense of danger was during the waning minutes of the third quarter, merely leading by 59-57. But a 24-7 blitzkrieg bridging the third and fourth periods and capped by a three-point play by Peek abruptly twisted the complexion of the contest as the Texters suddenly found themselves in complete control, 83-64, with 7:45 left to play.
The Texters outscored the Painters, 57-37, in the second half.
Alaska actually blew a 73-57 third-quarter lead, but outscored Derby Ace, 8-2, in the last 2:24 after import Shamari Spears tied it at 89 on a break-away lay-up.
But the Llamados didn’t have the precise execution the Aces are noted to possess, dropping to 2-3 (win-loss) after getting their two-game winning streak snapped.
DeVance finished with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds, import LD Williams had a personal conference-best 30 points, and Tenorio had 16 points and seven assists for Alaska, which is eyeing to win a second straight import-spiced tournament after conquering the 2009-10 Fiesta Conference with Diamon Simpson.
The result spoiled the return of Kerby Raymundo to active duty after missing Derby Ace’s last 33 games and 55 of the franchise’s previous 57 dating back to the 2010 Fiesta Conference due to hip and groin injuries that required surgeries in the United States.
Raymundo saw action for 13 minutes and had four points and three rebounds for a ball club missing five key players to injuries – Raffy Reavies, Rico Maierhofer, Jonas Villanueva, Don Allado and Jondan Salvador.
To make it worse, James Yap, the two-time MVP, suffered cramps and was taken out with 5:18 on the game-clock and hardly mattered when he was fielded back in with 1:07 remaining in the contest.
