Aces live on alley-oop, nip Texters in OT

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska Milk executed a great alley-oop play with four-tenths of a second left in regulation to force overtime then went on to beat Talk n Text, 119-113, in an epic match in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

LA Tenorio, the smallest man on the court, was set up for that buzzer-beating shot, and the Aces lived on in the extension play, notching a fifth straight win and their 11th in 12 games overall.

“It was designed that way. We were hoping they ignored LA for that alley-oop. We told (in-bounder) Tony dela Cruz to stay patient and wait for that play to develop,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone of the crucial play.

Fil-Am rookie Jason Urbiztondo more than held his own against veteran Ginebra guard Johnny Abarrientos, piling up a game-high 22 points to lead the Sta. Lucia Realtors to a 93-88 decision over the Kings in the second game.

“This game is about perseverance and team play. It’s a well-played team game and I really thought our second group came out and gave us a huge lift in the third and fourth quarters,” Cone also said.

Reynel Hugnatan, Jeffrey Cariaso, John Ferriols and Mark Borboran kept Alaska in the game in the face of Macmac Cardona’s 20-point explosion in the fourth quarter before Willie Miller and Tenorio took over in the crunch.

Miller and Tenorio banged away big shots negating Cardona’s 31-point performance as Alaska handed Talk n Text a fifth loss against eight wins.

Even in the absence of key players Jimmy Alapag and Jared Dillinger, the Tropang Texters took control early behind Cardona’s hot shooting.

Alapag suffered a pulled hamstring in practice Tuesday while Dillinger was out with a sore back.

Renren Ritualo, Yancy de Ocampo, Harvey Carey and Jason Castro had their significant contributions for the Texters who held nine-point spreads in the fourth quarter and appeared headed for the win as Cardona knocked in a trey making it 106-100 with a little over a minute left to play.

After Alaska pulled even at 106-all on clutch hits by Miller and Hugnatan, Cardona answered with a running one-hander to push TnT back on top with only 8.3 ticks left.

Alaska got into deeper trouble as Sonny Thoss missed a reverse lay-up then the referees ruled a jump-ball with 1.1 seconds left.

The Aces, however, got a crack for the equalizer after Dela Cruz grabbed the toss then sued for time with .4-second left in the clock.

And then came the Tenorio alley-oop.

In overtime, the Aces jumped the gun on the Texters and held on to salvage the game.

Miller went 3-of-6 from the three-point area and finished with 22 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Hugnatan, Joe De Vance, Tenorio, Thoss and Dela Cruz added at least 10 points each.