MANILA, 17 April 2006 — Alaska was playing so bad that not even the Holy Week was enough reason for Tim Cone to give his Aces a break.
Work during the holidays was well worth it, though. Nic Belasco scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Reynel Hugnatan hit the winning free throws with 10.5 seconds left last night as Alaska snapped a long winless streak in the PBA Philippine Cup with an 83-82 decision of Red Bull.
The 6-foot-7 Belasco kept the Aces in the thick of things and Hugnatan pulled the game out of the fire as Alaska completed a mighty rally from eight points down in the waning minutes to win for the first time in four games and improve to 4-5 overall. It was the fourth straight loss for the reigning Fiesta Conference champion Bulls, as Red Bull dropped to 3-6 in the standings after blowing what seemed like a game it had complete control of.
Red Bull had taken an 82-81 lead with 22 seconds left after Lordy Tugade completed a three-point play, and the Aces looked for Belasco on the other end to bail them out.
But Belasco’s short jumper rattled out and Hugnatan was at the perfect place at the right time to grab the offensive rebound and earn the trip to the charity stripe after being fouled by Cyrus Baguio with 10.5 seconds left.
Tugade went on to finish with 22 points, shooting his last 10 on a string which nearly won the game for the Bulls.
Talk ‘N Text, meanwhile, won back-to-back games for the first time in the tournament after running Air21 to the ground for a 103-88 victory in the second game at the Araneta Coliseum. Harvey Carey played a career-game, shooting 30 points for the Phone Pals. He also grabbed 19 rebounds as Talk ‘N Text climbed to .500 by improving to 4-4. The loss was the fifth straight in the Express’ 3-6 card.
Air21 fell behind by seven points at the turn and never got back into the game after throwing bricks for most of the second half.
Semifinalists in the Fiesta Cup, the Express missed a total of 30 attempts from beyond the three-point arc, making only nine, as they failed to rally themselves after trailing by as many as 17 points in the third period.
There were a lot of heavy contributors for the Phone Pals, as rookie Mac Cardona matched his career high with 21 points.
Asi Taulava had 20 rebounds to go with 16 points and starting point guard Jimmy Alapag finished with 11 points and 14 assists.
