Alaska pounces on hobbled Blackwater

The Alaska Aces pounced on an hobbled Blackwater Elite squad as they scored a comfortable 107-87 victory in the Oppo PBA Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

LaDontae Henton scored 33 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Alaska, which led by as many 30 points in the second half.

Kevin Racal shot a perfect 4-for-4 from threepoint range to finish with 12 points while Ping Exciminiano added 11 markers. Chris Banchero only scored eight points but dished out 12 assists in the game.

Alaska, which has struggled this conference, won for just the third time in eight games this conference. With the win, though, they are now just half a game behind sixth place with three teams tied at 3-4.

Blackwater (1-7) continued to languish at the bottom of the standings after dropping a sixth straight game. The Elite continued to miss the services of import Eric Dawson, out with back spasms, as well as Mike Cortez (strained calf) and JP Erram (ACL).

Blackwater tried to keep in pace in the first quarter thanks to an import-like performance from Art Dela Cruz, who scored eight of his team’s first 10 points en route to 12 markers in the opening period.

But the lack of their full arsenal began to tell on the Elite in the second as Alaska blew the game wide open.

The three-point shooting of Racal, who hit three triples, paired with the all-around brilliance of Henton allowed the Aces to outscore their opponents, 29-13, to take a whopping 18-point lead, 5436, to the halftime break.

Henton had 23 points at the half while Racal added nine for Alaska. Dela Cruz led Blackwater with 17 at the break.

There was no let-up in the second half as Henton scored 10 more points in the third quarter to lead Alaska to leads of as high as 30 points, 8252.

Blackwater never really challenged in the fourth quarter.

Dela Cruz finished with 23 points for the Elite.

InterAksyon.com

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