Petron Blaze creams luckless Alaska

MANILA, Philippines—Petron Blaze started out hot and showed deadly poise at the finish in turning back Alaska, 90-85, Tuesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Arwind Santos scored four of the victors’ last five points and the Boosters held the Aces scoreless in the last 1:39 to snap an 85-all tie and secure a sixth straight victory that raised their record to 9-3.

Alaska, which put itself in contention after a 4-18 start, bungled several opportunities down the stretch and, at 3-9 overall, now must win its last two games to have a chance of forging a KO match for the final playoff slot.

But if either Powerade or Barangay Ginebra wins one of their remaining elimination-round assignments, Alaska will be booted out of the playoff picture.

And should that happen, the Aces, a franchise that owns one of the richest winning histories in the league, will miss making it past the elimination round for just the third time in the last 32 conferences.

B-Meg also stretched its winning streak to six games after pounding out a 114-104 victory over short-handed Talk ‘N Text for an 8-4 record.

The Tropang Texters lost consecutive games for just the first time in the tournament and dropped to 8-3, now in solo second after that Petron victory earlier.

Santos finished with 24 points and pulled down the last of his nine rebounds when he tipped in a missed free throw by Danny Ildefonso to doom the Aces.

Alaska fought hard from that early 14-point deficit and even wrested the lead several times, the last at 85-83, after rookie Mac Baracael nailed a short jumper.

The scores:
First Game
PETRON BLAZE 90—Santos 24, Cabagnot 20, Miranda 14, Reyes 8, Yeo 8, Ildefonso 7, Baclao 4, Tugade 3, Guevarra 2, Doruelo 0, Agustin 0, Sharma 0.
ALASKA 85—Thoss 19, Baracael 13, Tenorio 13, Custodio 10, Reyes 10, Baguio 10, Bugia 6, Salamat 4, Eman 0.
Quarters: 21-9, 39-38, 64-60, 90-85
Second Game
B-MEG 114—Yap J. 27, Raymundo 20, Urbiztondo 15, Simon 11, De Vance 9, Yap R. 9, Pingris 8, Reavis 8, Barroca 7.
TALK ‘N TEXT 104—Carey 25, Castro 18, Alapag 15, Aguilar 11, Williams 11, Weinstein 9, Fonacier 8, De Ocampo 7, Gamalinda 0, Oreta 0, Alvarez 0.
Quarters: 29-21, 53-42, 76-78, 114-104