MANILA – Alaska Aces defeated San Miguel Beermen 96-85 to advance to the semifinal round of the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup on Wednesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Mike Harris had double-double 25 points and 17 rebounds, while Simon Enciso and Vic Manuel added 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Aces, which will face the winner of the Phoenix Fuel Masters-Meralco Bolts series in the best-of-five semifinals.
The Aces opened their quarterfinal match with a 12-3 lead on inside shots by Harris and triples by Enciso and Kevin Racal. Conversions from Kelly Nabong allowed the Beermen to come to within 22-23.
Alaska created distance anew as shots from Manuel and Enciso raised their lead 34-26. San Miguel made another trail job to cut the deficit 42-43 at the half.
The Aces came out swinging in the third quarter with conversions from Harris and Enciso and built a 64-48 lead. The Beermen pushed back, cutting the deficit 54-67 on a triple by Arwind Santos.
That proved to be the last stand of San Miguel as Alaska pulled away for good with hits from Manuel, Enciso and Harris for their biggest lead – 21 points – before the Beermen trimmed this down to the final score.
In the other game, the Bolts stayed alive in their bid to return to the Governors’ Cup finals for the third straight year after dragging their quarterfinals match with the Fuel Masters to a do-or-die setto with a 90-74 win.
From a seesaw battle in the first two quarters, the Bolts gained headway in the third period with a 27-10 scoring run from Allen Durham, Chris Newsome and Baser Amer for a 60-45 lead.
The Bolts were able to sustain the run in the fourth period, thwarting every attempt of the Fuel Masters to get back into the game, and later spread the lead to its biggest at 16 points.
Durham top-scored with 26 points to go along with 16 rebounds, while Newsome and Amer supplied 16 and 14 markers, respectively, for the Bolts, which will face the Fuel Masters in a knockout match for the last semifinals seat Friday night./PN
