Vic Manuel muscles his way to the basket. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Alaska has now erased its bad start to the conference, tacking a third straight win after beating Rain or Shine, 89-88, in a heart-stopper Thursday the PBA Philippine Cup at AUF Gym.
The Aces, who started 0-2, have now racked up a 3-2 record while also stopping the Elasto Painters’ three-game winning run.
Alaska had to tighten up its defense in the final five seconds after JVee Casio failed to get a handle on Jeron Teng’s inbound pass.
Rey Nambatac, who struggled the whole game, took on three defenders but his up-and-under layup, which could’ve won the game of Rain or Shine, bounced off the rim as the time expired.
“You don’t wanna turn it over like that but these guys are good players and every team always have guys of keeping it close and hitting big shots,” said Aces head coach Jeffrey Cariaso. “I challenge my guys to be focused and ready every second, it happens to the best of them.”
“JVee and Vic [Manuel] are our leaders but they also make mistakes and we have to learn from these things.”
The Elasto Painters had momentary control in the fourth with an 80-75 lead with 4:33 to play but the Aces went on a 10-0 run to take an 85-80 lead off of Vic Manuel’s jumper with 1:43 left.
Manuel then gave Alaska an 88-83 lead off another jumper and a split from the charity stripe before Nambatac drained a three-pointer to put Rain or Shine within two, 88-86, with 39.4 seconds to play.
The Elasto Painters, who were undefeated, failed to go to the second spot in the standings but stayed at the third with a 3-1 card with the Aces, who are at 3-2, right behind them at fourth.
Manuel led the Aces with 18 points and seven rebounds while Teng had 13 points and eight assists.
Sidney Onwubere had 16 points, on 7-of-12 shooting, to lead Rain or Shine.