PBA: Clutch triples help Alaska turn back San Miguel
Photo by Nuki Sabio from pba.inquirer.net
MANILA, Philippines—Late triples allowed Alaska to come away with an 89-78 victory over San Miguel Saturday night in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup out-of-town match at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.
Back-to-back treys from JVee Casio and Cyrus Baguio, set up by Rob Dozier, in the last four minutes gave the Aces enough cushion down the stretch after a nip-and-tuck stretch in the payoff period.
Alaska took a five-point lead twice in the final canto, but San Miguel still managed to get the upperhand after that. A basket from Sol Mercado with five minutes to play gave the Beermen a 78-76 advantage.
That was the last time San Miguel would score though, as Casio and Baguio connected on the game-swinging triples, while Dozier and RJ Jazul sealed the win with freebies.
Dozier finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds for Alaska, which notched its third win with just as many setbacks and tied with Air21 and Meralco in the middle of the pack.
After shrugging off a low-scoring start, neither side managed to build a significant lead as Alaska’s 29-19 edge, the biggest of the game, in the second period was readily leveled by San Miguel.
The Beermen even led by 50-42 on a triple from import Kevin Jones with 6:38 in the third quarter, but they never found the momentum to stretch it further en route to their second defeat.
San Miguel, though, retained the second spot with a 5-2 card behind leader Talk N’ Text.
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