Express railroad Aces plans
MANILA—Coach Yeng Guiao called his team’s first win a lucky one.
But not this time.
The much-improved Air21 took Alaska’s every hit before coming from behind to shock the erstwhile unbeaten Aces, 86-83, Friday night in the 2010 PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
“I’ve been waiting for this kind of game for our team to show some character, it finally showed,” said Guiao.
“Of course we won over B-Meg (Derby Ace) but I thought we got lucky in that game and I feel that in this game, we earned the win,” Guiao added.
The Express trailed much of the highly physical game until the payback period where at one point they held the Aces scoreless for nearly four minutes to erase an 11-point third quarter deficit.
Streak-shooter Ronjay Buenafe came alive in the second half scoring 19 of his team-high 25 points on a barrage of three-pointers that sparked Air21’s relentless rally.
Lanky forward Ronnie Matias drained a timely triple that gave the Express a four-point cushion, 84-80 with 26.7 ticks left.
Matias chipped in 16 points for Air21, which improved to 2-2.
Wynne Arboleda knotted the count for the first time since the opening minutes of the game at 75-all with two free-throws with five minutes left.
Cyrus Baguio, who unleashed a game-high 26 points, kept Alaska afloat in crunchtime but it wasn’t enough as the Aces staggered to its first setback in four stints.
“Cyrus played a monster game, we just couldn’t find a formula to stop him tonight,” marveled Guiao.
Joe Devance had the chance to tie the game but his triple attempt went way off the rim as time expired. Photo by Celest Flores
The scores:
AIR21 86—Buenafe 25, Matias 16, Al Hussaini 15, Gonzales 11, Arboleda 6, Quinahan 5, Baclao 4, Guevarra 2, Sharma 2, Urbiztondo 0, Arellano 0, Rodriguez 0.
ALASKA 83—Baguio 26, De Vance 13, Dela Cruz 12, Thoss 11, Eman 6, Borboran 5, Tenorio 5, Hugnatan 5, Custodio 0.
Quarters: 20-29, 34-45, 61-64, 86-83
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