Top of the heap
Rain or Shine took advantage of an importless San Miguel Beer in overtime, hacking out a 123-119 win to take the solo lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
The defending champion Beermen lost import Troy Gillenwater in the 2:29 mark of the second quarter after bumping referee Rey Yante.
Gillenwater was called for a foul on Rain or Shine counterpart Reggie Johnson. League rules state that hitting an official merits ejection.
Raymond Almazan scored eight of Rain or Shine’s 11 overtime points to send the Elasto Painters on top with a 4-1 card. He finished with 25 points.
Johnson scored 27 points on top of 19 rebounds.
The Beermen, winless in two games, forced overtime at 112-all after an Alex Cabagnot layup in the last 11.4 seconds of regulation.
Arwind Santos and June Mar Fajardo paced San Miguel with 29 and 26 points, respectively, but both fouled out.
Earlier, Alaska provided an anticlimactic ending to what had initially been expected as a down-the-wire contest with TNT KaTropa.
Showing the maturity they have built through the years, the Aces scored a runaway 110-100 win by simply pouncing on a Texters side still groping for chemistry.
Vic Manuel again managed the type of all-around game off the bench that powered the Aces the past two outings, particularly during a decisive third-period run that sent the Texters tumbling to a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
A workhorse on the shaded lane, Manuel poured in most of his career-high 29 points in the middle quarters as the Aces erected an 18-point advantage before cruising the rest of the way.
“I’m always concerned about the limited minutes that I spend on the floor, so I just do my best every time coach Alex (Compton) calls me off the bench,” Manuel said in Filipino.
The Texters attempted to lure Manuel into a double team and put every able body on the tireless forward one-on-one, to no avail.
Instead of acknowledging all the credit, the self-effacing Manuel pointed to Antonio Campbell as the crucial piece in the Aces’ third victory in four outings that forced a three-way tie for second sport with their victims and idle Meralco Bolts.
“He’s (Campbell) a clever import and he easily picked up our system,” Manuel said.
Campbell finished with 23 points and 20 rebounds after doing a fabulous job around the rim that canceled out another dull performance by TNT’s Jeremy Tyler.
The entire TNT local crew also also had its share of lapses, especially when the Texters couldn’t hit the target from afar.
Unlike the first three games where they defeated rivals with great accuracy from trifecta territory, the Texters missed 24 of 36 shots from beyond the arc with Troy Rosario missing six, Terrence Romeo four and Jayson Castro all of his five attempts.
The Aces, meanwhile, were 9-of-23 from three-point range, but made 50 percent of their shots from the two-point zone compared to the 38-percent field-goal shooting of the Texters.
Meanwhile, reigning slam dunk king Chris Newsome of Meralco will be challenged by a former champion and the 2017 NCAA titleholder in the PBA All-Star week.
Rey Guevarra of Phoenix and rookie Lervin Flores of GlobalPort are part of the eight-man cast out to challenge Newsome on May 25 in Batangas City.
The scores:
ALASKA 110—Manuel 29, Campbell 23, Casio 10, Abueva 9, Banchero 8, Racal 8, Enciso 7, Magat 7, Thoss 5, Teng 4, Baclao 0, Exciminiano 0, Potts 0.
TNT 100—Castro 18, Romeo 17, Tyler 16, Rosario 15, Cruz 10, Pogoy 9, Semerad 5, Trollano 5, Reyes 3, Paredes 2, Golla 0, Carey 0, Garcia 0, Saitanan 0.
Quarters: 34-26, 59-43, 85-67, 110-100
