MANILA – Phoenix Fuel Masters reached its frachise’s first-ever semifinals appearance after a 91-76 victory over Alaska Aces in the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals on Sunday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Jason Perkins finished with career-best 31 points to go along with nine rebounds, Matthew Wright added 14 markers, while Calvin Abueva had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Fuel Masters.
The Fuel Masters, which has a twice-to-beat incentive over the Aces, will tangle with the winner of San Miguel Beermen and TNT KaTropa quarterfinals series in the best-of-seven semifinals round.
“We just got to the semifinals and we’re waiting for San Miguel and TNT who are both heavyweight teams,” said Fuel Masters head coach Louie Alas. “But we are not complaining. We are happy we made it to the semifinals for the first time.”
From a tight exchange early in the game, the Fuel Masters created distance from the Aces midway in the second frame with a 10-0 run to turn a 30-all score to a 47-35 halftime edge on 11 point blast by Perkins.
It was all Fuel Masters since then with Perkins conniving with Abueva and Wright on the offensive end as the lead reached its largest at 89-61 on a conversion from Rafael Joey Jazul.
Jvee Casio finished with 19 points, while Simon Enciso and Jeron Teng added 15 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Aces, which struggled all conference long due to injuries./PN
