Alaska’s Vic Manuel vs Justin Chua. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Alaska used a strong fourth quarter push to turn back Phoenix and pick up a second straight win, 105-97, in the PBA Philippine Cup Thursday at Angeles University Foundation.
The Aces improved to a 5-3 record while also foiling Fuel Masters’s bid to extend their winning streak to three games as the latter dropped to 4-3.
Down four, 75-71, at the end of the third, Alaska made a frantic run to start the final period and took a 15-point lead, 97-82, after Robbie Herndon’s layup capped off a methodical 26-7 run with 4:14 to play.
“I can’t be anymore prouder because we really showed the resiliency we talked about,” said Aces head coach Jeffrey Cariaso. “We had to dig deep.”
“We know they’re gonna take a lot of threes, so they’re gonna shoot it so we have to defend it and not make it affect us when they make it.”
Though Phoenix still made its fair share of deep balls with 17-of-42, the Aces made sure that they would be the ones who ground it out in hustle plays.
Alaska capitalized on the Fuel Masters’ shoddy ball handling, converting 25 points off turnovers while also scoring 12 fast break points and 20 second chance points.
Vic Manuel had a team-high 24 points with seven boards to lead Alaska while Mike Digregorio added 21 points, on 4-of-7 shooting from deep.
Matthew Wright finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, and five assists to lead Phoenix while Calvin Abueva had 18 points, eight boards, and five dimes in just his second game back from his suspension.