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Monday, March 08, 2004
Aces repel Purefoods rally, win
By GLENN C. MICHELENA
Sun.Star Correspondent
THE Alaska Aces managed to walk away with the win, but not before the Purefoods youth brigade gave them the scare of their lives.
In what turned out to be a classic shootout encounter between the young guns from both squads, the Aces relied on back-to-back 3-pointers by Brandon Lee Cablay and Mike Cortez in the last minute to prevail over the late-rallying Purefoods TJ Hotdogs, 91-89, in the Sunday night doubleheader of the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
Later, the Coca-Cola Tigers raced to a 59-31 lead and proceeded to annihilate the sputtering Sta. Lucia Realtors, 95-89.
Alaska, which improved to 2-1, dealt the Purefoods, now 1-3, its third straight loss.
Purefoods, which trailed by 12 at 37-49 at halftime, struck back at the Aces in the third quarter, where the Hotdogs cut the deficit by one at 65-66 at the 10-minute mark with a breakaway Noy Castillo bucket.
Bad luck, however, never seemed to run out on the Hotdogs.
Purefoods suffered another blow late in the third quarter when forward Jun Limpot went down with a strained calf as the Aces ended the period with a 72-65 lead. With its veterans down, Purefoods turned to its youngsters and reaped the benefits.
Purefoods forward Richard Yee came off the bench to figure in an 8-0 run midway in the third quarter to wrest the lead, 82- 81.
Purefoods pressed and seemed headed for the win after rookies James Yap and Paul Artadi presided over a 7-2 run, which enabled the Hotdogs to post an 89-83 lead going into the final three minutes.
A Rob Duat lay-up followed by the endgame howitzers of Cablay and Cortez, however, sparked a game-clinching 8-0 closure by the Aces.
(March 8, 2004 issue)
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