MANILA – Alaska Aces clinched the first semifinals seat in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup with an 89-78 victory over Magnolia Hotshots in the quarterfinals Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Vic Manuel continued his impressive showing the conference with 22 points while Chris Banchero added 14 markers and Diamon Simpson had double-double 13 points and 15 rebounds for Aces.
A game prior, Jonathan Grey drained a game-winning 3-pointer as GlobalPort Batang Pier negated Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ twice-to-beat advantage with a 114-113 victory.
Holding to a slim 46-43 lead at the half, Aces surged to a 59-48 advantage in the third with shots from Kevin Racal and Joachim Thoss. The lead went up to its largest in the match 78-62 on inside shots from Manuel.
Magnolia made a run in the fourth to come to as close as 78-82 on baskets from Andy Mark Barroca and Jio Jalalon but Aces countered with 7 straight points from Manuel and Banchero to raise the lead to 11 points.
Wayne Chism finished with double-double 20 points and 15 rebounds while Ian Sangalang added 14 markers for Hotshots, which failed to get decent contributions from main guys Paul Lee, Jalalon and Barroca.
In the previous game, after being down by as much as 16 points in the third period, Batang Pier zoomed behind Grey, Malcolm White and Stanley Pringle, and managed to tie the scores 96-all on a Moala Tautuaa triple.
Painters pulled away anew 106-98 after a triple by Gabe Norwood but Batang Pier banked on triples by Pringle and Grey and inside hits by White to tie the count at 110-all.
After taking a 112-111 lead on a Norwood layup, Painters had a chance to seal the win but Maverick Ahanmisi muffed three of his four 3-point attempts for a slim 113-111 lead before Batang Pier stole the match on a corner triple by Grey.
Grey finished the match with 22 points, including three triples. White led the way with double-double 28 points and 16 rebounds while Pringle had 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for Batang Pier./PN
