Alaska escapes Barako Bull, keeps top 4 bid alive

JV Casio of Alaska (dark) vs Jeric Fortuna of Barako (light). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — Alaska kept its bid for a top four finish going after holding off Barako Bull, 90-87, in the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

JVee Casio led all scorers with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Aces, who ended their elimination round campaign on a three-game winning streak and a 5-4 slate.

“We were up I think by eight or six points and we were shooting free throws with like 30 seconds left and I was yelling at the guys ‘there are no miracles, there are no miracles’ and boy they almost made me a liar. That was scary,” recalled Alaska head coach Alex Compton.

“Credit to Barako, they didn’t give up to the end. I told my players this is going to be an absolute battle. It’s not over until we win it and I was right, those guys played to the every end,” Compton whose squad trailed and led by as much as 13 points in the second half, added.

Alaska had to dodge a bullet in the closing seconds after its eight-point lead with under 30 seconds left was cut to three with 11 ticks remaining after a triple by Willie Miller.

Henry Walker had the chance to seal the game but he botched two freebies with 5.6 ticks left. Fortunately for the Aces, the Energy weren’t able to get off a decent shot with no timeouts left as Allen Durham’s heave fell way short.

With the win, Alaska’s hopes of crashing into the top four and earning a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals interestingly lie on Rain or Shine, the same team that handed the Aces their worst loss in franchise history.

“I think the biggest thing right now is that after Rain or Shine whooped us by 51 points, we are now the biggest Rain or Shine fans,” Compton said with a laugh.

Alaska held Durham to just 17 points. Durham came in averaging 30 points per game. The Energy head into the quarterfinals as the eighth seed.

Walker also scored 17 points and had eight rebounds while Calvin Abueva just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.

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