Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Had Troy Rosario drained a wide open corner three pointer with only seconds remaining, the Alaska Aces would have packed their bags and called it a conference.
“My heart dropped to basement five level in Araneta, when he (Rosario) was open,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton after the game. “That scared the life out of me.”
But instead Rosario’s shot clanged off the ring and hit the shot clock to turnover the possession to the Aces with 2.6 ticks left on the clock.
Alaska survived another to play another day after an 85-81 victory over the Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup on Tuesday (April 19) at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Alaska import Rob Dozier paced his side with 18 markers.
With 53.1 in the final frame, TNT import David Simon powered in a shot from close range to trim the Alaska lead to just 81-82, and set up a potential grand slam finish.
But after an empty trip in the succeeding possession, defense proved to be Alaska’s trump card on the night. With 30.8 on the board the Aces forced Ranidel De Ocampo to take a rushed three point attempt which failed to hit the mark.
The Tropang Texters quickly sent Dozier to the line, but ended up draining just one of his two attempts.
With 8.3 ticks left Jayson Castro found Troy Rosario wide open on the corner, but he failed to connect.
David Simon led TNT with 31 points on the night.
“Talk ’N Text had 81 points, I am so happy with the way we defended, it was really different,” said Compton. “It was obviously a defensive battle, I certainly hope we can keep Talk ’N Text to 81 points on Friday. Pero sa tingin ko medyo mahirap yan.”
