Romeo Travis vs Marqus Blakely. PBA IMAGES
Alaska leaned on its import Romeo Travis when the going got tough in the fourth quarter to scrape past a struggling Star side, 92-86, in the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Travis flirted with a triple-double with 27 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists and his all-around effort helped the Aces grab a share of the top spot with the Barako Bull Energy at 4-1.
“The one thing I really appreciate was the defensive effort at the end, the stops that we got,” Alaska head coach Alex Compton. “They were high energy, we had to fight, guys were digging down. When you play a tough team like Purefoods, you have to grind it out.”
With the game still up-for-grabs, Travis drilled in a contested fallaway over a premiere defender in Marc Pingris that stretched Alaska’s lead to seven, 90-83, with 50.9 seconds left.
The Hotshots answered back with a 3-pointer from Joe Devance but again, Travis made the crucial play when he passed off a double team to an open JVee Casio at the left baseline for the dagger of a jumper, 92-86, with 18.3 ticks remaining.
Marques Blakely had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Star, which fell to 1-4.