MANILA: Alaska still has that monkey on its back.
The Aces failed yet again in their latest attempt at automatically landing in the semifinals of the Philippine Cup last night after Burger King, playing for pride more than anything, scored an 87-80 victory at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Burger King got a career-high 23 points from JR Quinahan and wrested control in the second half to close out their elimination round stint with a 6-12 card, tied for seventh with Coca-Cola which will be its wildcard foe on Sunday.
“It’s a good way to close out our elimination round schedule,” Burger King coach Yeng Guiao said. “This win will serve as a big morale booster for our wildcard game.”
Coca-Cola also closed out with the same card after a 91-89 victory over Barako Bull in the first game where Asi Taulava hit the winning turnaround jumper with 1.6 seconds left.
Burger King could have afforded losing to the Aces as its pairing with Coca-Cola in the wildcard had already been sealed by the win of the Tigers in the opening game.
But the Whoppers persevered in the second half, coming out a very different team by playing aggressive on both ends. Burger King easily erased a three-point deficit after the second period and went on to lead by as many as nine several times.
Quinahan, an under-sized center, scored nine of his total in the final two periods, while Ronjay Buenafe tossed in 11 of his total in the fourth, including two crucial triples in the stretch that helped quell a series of Alaska comebacks.
It was the third loss in the last four games for Alaska, which dropped out of the lead for the first time in the tournament.
The Aces have one final try at joining San Miguel outright in the Final Four, against Rain or Shine tomorrow at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Alaska, at 12-5, is automatically in the quarterfinals at the moment, and even a loss to the Elasto Painters would still give the Aces another crack at the semifinals as they could figure in a three-team playoff for the No. 2 slot.
But that is one scenario that they definitely would want to avoid, as the teams that could figure in that playoff would involve powerhouse squads Purefoods and Barangay Ginebra.
Willie Miller, the former two-time MVP, scored 15 of his 19 points in the final two periods, trying valiantly to fire up the Aces, who lost their touch in that stretch by scoring only 43 points.
Starting point guard LA Tenorio was held down to only seven points in the second half and Joe Devance to just three as the Aces struggled to find a player that was connecting in that stretch aside from Miller.
Meanwhile, the Tigers won for the fifth time in their last six games earlier after Taulava, the second option behind Gary David in that game-winning play, hit the jumper that mattered.
“It was one of those shots. I was just feeling it,” Taulava told reporters.
David, in his second game since being traded by Burger King, tossed in 16 points and Larry Rodriguez had 11 of his 15 in the first half for the Tigers.
Barako Bull got eliminated for the third straight conference, becoming the first team since the 1996-97 Pepsi/Mobiline crew to have that distinction. The Boosters wound up with a 3-15 record.
In a related development, the playoff cast could have a different picture today after the members of the league’s board meet to discuss San Miguel’s protest of a Talk ‘N Text victory over the Beermen Saturday evening.
