Alaska survives skidding Blackwater for 4th straight win

Jeron Teng. PBA IMAGES

Alaska continued its upward trajectory in the PBA Philippine Cup after holding off Blackwater, 88-84, Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

After starting the conference at 0-2, the Aces have now strung together four straight wins for a 4-2 record while Elite slipped to their third straight loss for 2-4.

With the two teams trading blows in the final six minutes of the game, Alaska rookie Jeron Teng dealt the haymaker with 1:04 left in the game with a triple from the top of the key that gave the Aces an 86-80 lead.

“I am very relieved,” said Alaska head coach Alex Compton. “Obviously it helped us that they missed a bunch of free throws, it seemed like in the second half they really missed a bunch and in a close game that matters.”

Blackwater mounted a 21-8 run across the third and fourth quarters that cut Alaska’s lead to two, 70-68, early in the final period.

And although the Elite kept it close, they never tied nor took the lead as they missed seven free throws in the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter allowing the Aces to keep them at bay.

The closest Blackwater got to Alaska was in the 2:09 mark of the fourth after Mac Belo and Michael Digregorio made two straight three-pointers to cut the deficit to one, 81-80.

And as if fate strummed its strings, Chris Banchero converted twice from the line to gave Alaska an 83-80 buffer with 1:49 left in the game.

Banchero finished the game with a conference-high 16 points with seven rebounds and five steals while Vic Manuel also had 16 points for Alaska.

Kevin Racal and Teng also finished in double digits for the Aces with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

JP Erram led the Elite with 14 points, 21 rebounds, and five blocks while Digregorio and Belo paced Blackwater with 15 points apiece.

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