Petron escapes Alaska behind Fajardo’s heroics in PBA Philippine Cup

Calvin Abueva of Alaska (dark) vs Doug Kramer of Petron (light). Nuki Sabio/PBA

MANILA, Philippines — Petron Blaze escaped a determined Alaska side, 86-85, and kept its perfect slate Saturday in the 2013 PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Boosters improved to five wins as they held off the last ditch rally by the Aces, who nipped away at Petron’s slim lead in crunch time and came within just a basket of snatching away the victory.

“We’re lucky to hold off Alaska, though we missed a lot of freethrows. It’s a character win, the players just refused to lose in the dying seconds,” said head coach Gee Abanilla.

June Mar Fajardo rescued the Boosters, scoring all but four of his 20 points in the payoff period and providing the consistency from the stripe — which they sorely lacked in the clutch.

“His freethrows were good tonight, that’s one facet of his game that he’s trying to improve,” said Abanilla of his towering center, who also had 12 rebounds.

Paolo Hubalde and Marcio Lassiter missed crucial freethrows in the final minute of play which could’ve been costly for the Boosters.

Luckily, they had built enough cushion to withstand Alaska’s fight back. A split from the stripe from Fajardo pushed the lead to 85-79 with 1:07 to play.

JVee Casio struck a three in the ensuing play, and then the Aces threatened to tie the match as the Boosters bungled the freebies that could’ve iced the game.

Fajardo again made just one of two freethrows for an 86-82 Petron edge.

RJ Jazul, who had the hottest hand for Alaska, fired a triple with 1.8 ticks left but time had ran out.

“Alaska came in to play tonight. They really played well and had a good game,” said Abanilla.

Jazul contributed 18 points for the Aces, who skid to third to the last with 2-4 card. Calvin Abueva added 17.