With Aces up his sleeves, who needs an import?

Antipolo City— Alaska Milk leaned on its locals when it couldn’t find an import as it outhustled Sta. Lucia Realty, 87-82, yesterday to snap out of a five-game slump in the San Mig Coffee PBA Fiesta Conference at the Ynares Center here.

Jeff Cariaso and Brandon Cablay stepped up with 17 and 16 points, respectively, as the Aces sealed their first victory in over a month and sixth overall in 13 games to end a five-game losing run.

Alaska was supposed to play with Victor Thomas, who replaced Tee McClary, but the former Red Bull and Sta. Lucia reinforcement proved an inch over the height limit, forcing the Aces to go without an import against the Realtors.

They didn’t need one last night.

"When I was told that Victor Thomas was over the height limit, I went ballistic for 10 seconds because he was perfect in practice for the team," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

Cone, who will turn 48 on Dec. 14, took the blame for the Thomas incident.

"It was all my fault, I let the guys down and I should have taken care of business for them," he said. "But the players came out for me tonight, they saved my rear-end tonight."

Damien Owens, the import that led the franchise to its only PBA title in 2001, was back as Omar Weaver’s replacement but his 19 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two blocks weren’t enough to save the Realtors from absorbing an eighth loss against five wins.

Interestingly, the last time Alaska played import-less was on Aug. 11, 1996 in a 89-86 triumph also over Sta. Lucia.

Cariaso and Cablay whipped up a 14-point flurry to wheel the Aces from a 22-38 deficit early in the second quarter to a 47-46 lead at the break.

The Realtors regained the lead, 52-51, on a pair of foul shots by Dennis Espino early in the third period but the Aces had enough resolve to snatch the win.

"The only way to beat them is to outhustle them and we did tonight," said Cone.