Top seed Alaska shut down GlobalPort and its star guard Terrence Romeo to win, 100-76, in a heated Game 2 to level their best-of-seven semifinals series of the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces owed up to their identity of being one of the best defensive teams in the league by limiting the Batang Pier to their second fewest points this season and holding down Terence Romeo to two points in the second half. They gave up 107 points in a blowout loss in Game 1 last Monday and allowing the star uard to erupt for a career-high of 41.
READ: PBA: 13 tech fouls called as Batang Pier, Aces get into scuffle
“Defense. Energy,” said Alaska head coach Alex Compton. “Really to me, you look at how many points they put up on the board and it was a concerted phenomenal effort by our entire defense particularly in the second half.”
Alaska pulled away in the second half, where it hounded GlobalPort to just 32 points after a back-and-forth first half, which saw a near bench-clearing brawl late in the opening quarter that had 13 technical fouls called combined on players, coaches and team officials.
The Aces delivered a 12-2 finishing kick with Cyrus Baguio’s 3-pointer pushing their lead to 19, 90-71, with only 4:07 remaining after the Batang Pier mounted a rally that had pulled them to within single-digits.
READ: PBA: Washington ejected after 2nd technical foul
Alaska drew its biggest offensive contributions from its bench with Chris Banchero leading the team with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field that went with five rebounds and RJ Jazul adding 17 points on 9-of-9 shooting at the free throw line.
“It was really obvious that we were quick tonight compared in Game 1 where we were really slow and it’s like we had cement in our shoes and that’s not take away from Global dominating us in Game 1,” Compton said. “But I thought today we brought a defensive effort that will give us a chance in just about any game.”
JVee Casio had 13 points while Calvin Abueva posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Stanley Pringle scored a game-high 22 points, 15 coming in the final two quarters where Romeo couldn’t get anything going after putting up 18 in the first half.
It was a woeful third quarter for the Batang Pier, whose key player Jay Washington got ejected late in the period after picking up his second technical foul for second motion against Abueva.
Game 3 is on Friday night at Mall of Asia Arena.
Terrence Romeo vs JVee Casio. PBA IMAGES