Petron survives Alaska in wild overtime finish
THE PETRON Blaze Boosters edged out the Alaska Aces in a wild finish, pulling off a close 82-81 overtime win last night in the 36th PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Import Jeremy Wise struggled for a large part of the game but came up big in the endgame, scoring 15 points bridging the fourth and overtime periods to lead the Boosters’ third win in five games.
Wise, who eventually finished with 18 points, put the Boosters in front, 80-78, on a hard drive to the basket with 59.3 seconds left in the overtime stanza.
Wesley Gonzales nailed a three-pointer from the right corner as the Aces regained the lead, 81-80 with 38.1 ticks to go.
Wise answered with two made free throws off Gonzales’ sixth and final foul as the Booster moved ahead anew, 82-81, with 28.4 seconds to play.
The Aces had the chance to retake the lead when Wise fouled a driving Cyrus Baguio with 15 seconds left. The foul was Wise’s sixth, sending him to the bench for good.
The Aces, however, couldn’t capitalize, as Baguio missed both free throws.
The Boosters nearly squandered the game when Arwind Santos, instead of waiting to be fouled, threw a long pass to Sunday Salvacion. As he was about to fall out of bounds, Salvacion tossed the ball inside the court that went straight to the hands of Baguio.
Baguio instigated a fastbreak play and forwarded the ball to Tenorio. But to the shock of the entire Alaska squad, Tenorio, with still five seconds left in the clock, pulled up a long three-pointer shot and missed./EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA
