Defeat most foul for Express

An ill-advised foul by Wynne Arboleda with the clock winding down to its final seconds had Alaska Milk rising from the grave and grabbing a won game from the hands of hard-luck FedEx last night in the Selecta PBA All-Filipino Cup at the Astrodome.

The final count was 85-84 but what could be remembered was Arboleda’s boo-boo — ruled by the referees as an unsportsmanlike foul on Kenneth Duremdes with time down to 1.2 seconds, sending the one-time MVP to the stripe and giving Rob Duat a chance to redeem himself big from being the goat in their loss the last time out.

Duat banged in a fallaway triple off Rodney Santos at the buzzer, capping a stunning comeback by Alaska for its second win in four outings.

"I feel sorry for Derrick (Pumaren) and I feel sorry for FedEx, we got a little lucky there," said Alaska coach Tim Cone who escaped with the win after the team trailed by three at 81-84 with only 3.9 ticks left following a baseline jumper by Ren Ren Ritualo.

The Express, who suffered their fourth loss in a row, thought Cone committed a technical violation in the commotion following Arboleda’s foul, prompting team manager Lito Alvarez to say they will put the game under protest Monday.

"Dalawang beses siyang pumasok sa court. We believe under the FIBA rules, automatic technical foul iyon. Eh, we’re playing under FIBA rules in this tournament," said Alvarez.

FedEx could have easily put the game away had Arboleda not interfered with Duremdes’ heave from way, way out in that one fateful play.

Cone vehemently protested when the referees ruled it an unsportsmanlike foul giving Duremdes two free throws and the team ball possession instead of just three charities if the foul was a simple infraction.

But the call proved to be a blessing in disguise for Alaska as Duremdes made a free throw and Duat canned in a triple, lifting the Aces past the stunned Express.

"It was a fabulous shot which we didn’t see very often. We got lucky but we’re taking the win. Basically, we should have been 1-3 and we would be in big trouble," said Cone.

"I’m disappointed in many ways on how we played," he added.