Aces rip F Masters, enhance bid for No. 2

Alaska Milk dominated Phoenix Petroleum from the second quarter onwards on a relentless pressing and attacking game and pulled off a decisive 106-85 win that guaranteed the Aces of a quarterfinals entry in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome last night.

Vic Manuel, coming off an ankle injury, stood out as the Aces fashioned out the key win that sealed their quarters passage and put them in a good position to grab second spot at the end of the single-round-robin elims on Wednesday. The Aces caught up with the TNT KaTropa Texters at second place at 6-4 while relegating the Fuel Masters down to fourth place.

“I can’t ask for more. I thought we defended a lot better. Our energy was there. We really had a good energy and I felt like everybody was involved,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.

Manuel, Jake Pascual and RJ Jazul led the Alaska second group that put up a tremendous effort in the second quarter, enabling the Aces to take a 60-42 cushion at halftime.

Kevin Racal, Dondon Hontiveros, Calvin Abueva, Jvee Casio and Sonny Thoss then took over as the Aces held sway to the finish, foiling Phoenix’s own shot at No. 2 spot and its twice-to-beat reward in the quarters.

Behind Mat Wright, Willy Wilson, Cyrus Baguio and Simon Enciso, the Fuel Masters waged a fightback and managed to narrow the gap to nine in the third.

Alaska, however, regrouped and posted another huge lead, 79- 59, before the quarter ended.

The Aces go for a 7-4 closing card in the last day of the elims Wednesday at the same venue.

Meanwhile, Alex Mallari produced a near triple-double job, including a career-high 30 points, while Reden Celda also churned out a career-best 18 markers as Mahindra toppled NLEX, 106-96, in a duel of ousted teams in the first game.

Mallari narrowly missed a tripledouble with 30 points and nine assists in a superb performance that fired up the Flood-buster versus the Road Warriors.

Celda, averaging only 5.7 points, outdid himself like Mallari, going 5-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line to help the Flood-buster pick up a win before closing out its elims stint against the Star Hotshots Wednesday at the same venue.

Mahindra caught up with Meralco at 10th place at 3-7 and left NLEX alone in the cellar at 2-8.

A dampener in Mahindra’s win was a knee injury suffered by Gilas Pilipinas candidate Russel Escoto in the second period.