MANILA, Philippines–Using another great start and a smart finish, Alaska held off Talk ‘N Text for the second straight time, scoring a 90-81 Game 7 victory Wednesday night that put the over-achieving Aces into the best-of-seven Finals of the PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
Diamon Simpson scored 10 of his 21 points in the first period as Alaska opened up double-digit leads early before getting almost everyone to contribute on both ends in the stretch as the Aces eliminated the Tropang Texters and advanced opposite San Miguel Beer.
Game 1 of the championship series is scheduled tomorrow also at the Big Dome and Alaska will not have time to celebrate this stirring conquest of the most feared team in the tournament.
“I can’t believe that I will have to look at San Miguel’s tapes when I get home (tonight),” Cone said. “I just can’t believe it.”
Alaska was in command all night, even building leads of as many as 18 points twice in the third period only to sputter later in that quarter and settle for a three-point margin entering the payoff frame.
But the Aces regrouped right away and frustrated the Texters no end as Simpson got a lot of help from LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio, who dropped the crippling bombs in the end game that doomed Talk ‘N Text.
“We were up by 18 and we were thinking: Can we really lose this thing?” Cone said. “And after that, boom, they came back. It was really hard for us to regroup. You have to give our guys some credit for staying calm through that storm.”
Joe Devance was also big, shooting nine of his 16 points in the third period to usher Alaska to a 59-41 lead.
The Texters came within 60-63 at the start of the fourth, but the Aces had seven of eight men scoring in the final quarter.
Four of the five Game 7 wins by the Aces came with the team down, 2-3 after five games and curiously enough, all four Game 7 losses by the Texters, including this one, came with the team flubbing 3-2 leads.
The loss was such a letdown for the Texters, who won 13 straight games at one point in the eliminations before earning top seeding in the playoffs with a 15-3 card.
Alaska goes into the title series against San Miguel having lost all of its last six Fiesta Conference collisions with the Beermen since 2008.
The Aces won this tournament in 2007 by conquering San Miguel in double overtime of Game 6, which stands as the last Alaska win over the Beermen in this conference in the last three seasons.
The scores:
ALASKA 90 – Simpson 21, De Vance 16, Baguio 14, Tenorio 10, Fonacier 10, Dela Cruz 10, Hugnatan 5, Borboran 4.
TALK ‘N TEXT 81 – Daniels 19, Cardona 16, De Ocampo 15, Reyes 9, Alapag 9, Castro 6, Williams 4, Carey 3, Dillinger 0, Aban 0.
Quarters: 24-12, 47-36, 63-60, 90-81
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