Aces seal title duel with Beermen

Alaska’s Dondon Hontiveros (25) protects the ball from TY Tang (11) of Rain or Shine during their game at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

DONDON Hontiveros bombed Rain or Shine from long range in the fourth quarter and the Alaska defense backed up his heroics for a 79-76 victory over the Elasto Painters last night at Mall of Asia Arena that shoved the Aces into the Finals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

Hontiveros hit five straight triples during the most critical stretches of the final frame before the unforgiving Alaska defense held the Painters scoreless in the last 2:21 to finally put Rain or Shine away with a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven series and advance against San Miguel Beer in the title showdown starting Wednesday.

“As much as I love Dondon, the best thing for me is that we won on defense,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton, who transformed this team into a defensive-minded squad ever since he took over from Luigi Trillo in the Governors’ Cup last season.

Rain or Shine was simply shut down in the dying minutes by the swarming Alaska defense that didn’t yield a single open shot.

And before that, Hontiveros made sure the Aces were not to be denied after the Painters had shot 32 third-quarter points to take the lead going into the fourth period.

“I thought that our defense in the first half was tremendous,” Compton said. “(But) Rain or Shine is so good offensively that, after we gave them just 28 (points) in the first half, they came back at us with 32 (in the third).”

San Miguel Beer has been on a break since sweeping Talk ‘N Text two weeks ago. The Beermen’s title series duel with the Aces will have two of the oldest teams in the league squaring off for a championship.

This will be the 27th Finals appearance for the Aces and just the second in the post-Tim Cone era. The last time Alaska made it to a title series, the Aces won by sweeping Barangay Ginebra in the 2012 Commissioner’s Cup.

Jonathan Uyloan and Jeff Chan hit back-to-back treys that ushered the Painters to a 74-71 lead. Rain or Shine was still ahead, 76-73, with 2:21 to play when Uyloan scored on a layup off a Beau Belga pass.

But Hontiveros drilled in his fourth trey to square things up at 76, before dropping another just 33 seconds later for what turned out to be the final score with 1:03 left.

Calvin Abueva finished with 15 points that went with nine rebounds and a lot of the hustle, while Sonny Thoss was the third player in twin digits for Compton with 11.

Chan led Rain or Shine with 14 followed by Raymond Almazan with 11.

The scores:

ALASKA 79—Hontiveros 17, Abueva 15, Thoss 11, Baguio 6, Manuel 6, Menk 6, Jazul 5, Exciminiano 4, Dela Cruz 4, Casio 3, Banchero 2, Eman 0, Dela Rosa 0, Espinas 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 76—Chan 14, Almazan 11, Uyloan 9, Arana 9, Belga 9, Lee 7, Ibanes 6, Norwood 4, Tang 4, Quinahan 3, Teng 0, Tiu 0, Cruz 0.

Quarters:  20-16, 36-28, 56-60, 79-76