MANILA – Phoenix Fuel Masters punched a ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup via a lopsided 94-80 victory over the Alaska Aces last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Calvin Abueva and Rafael Joey Jazul came out to haunt their former team with the former tallying double-double 21 points and 16 rebounds. The latter, on the other hand, submitted 18 points, including five triples, for the Fuel Masters.
Matthew Wright was solid anew with 20 markers while Bacolodnon center Justin Chua added 11 markers for the Fuel Masters, which tied Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on top with 7-1 win-loss slate.
The Fuel Masters got to an early start in the game behind Wright for a 29-22 advantage.
The Aces cut the deficit to 30-31 but the Fuel Masters pulled away anew to 51-40 at the half with consecutive hits from Abueva and Jazul.
The Fuel Masters pulled away further in the third period with eight straight points capped by back-to-back hits from Alex Mallari for a 61-40 lead.
The Aces attempted to make a run but shots from Phoenix pushed the lead to its highest at 26 points.
Jeron Teng tallied 23 points and nine rebounds while rookie Mer Jesper Ayaay and Carl Bryan Cruz added 13 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Aces which dropped to 2-2 win-loss slate.
Meanwhile, Blackwater Elite came up with a strong push in the second half before holding the Columbian Dyip at bay to score a 106-100 victory and snap its four-game losing skid.
Holding to a slim 51-50 lead at the half, the Elite got it going in third period to surge to a 77-69 lead.
The Dyip was able to tie the score at 78-all but the Elite increased it back 97-89 on shots from Allein Maliksi and Rey Mark Belo.
The Dyip made its last push to come to within 98-100 on back-to-back triples but a basket from Belo followed by free throws by Shej Roi Sumang and Andres Paul Desiderio increased the Elite’s lead to 106-100.
Maliksi led the way with 29 points while Rey Mark Belo added 22 markers.
The Elite improved to 2-6.
Rookie Jaymar Perez top-scored with 22 points and eight rebounds for the Dyip which dropped to 3-5./PN
