Aces fall short, again

This is getting to be a habit.

The Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants scored the crucial points down the stretch while the Alaska Aces could not, as Alaska bowed to Purefoods, 78-79, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last Sunday.

With the loss the Aces now trail the Giants 0-3 in their best-of-seven championship duel.

Like in Game 2 the Aces not only could not score in the final minutes of the game but also made crucial turnovers to allow the Giants to escape with the victory.

Willie Miller drained a jumpshot to push the Aces to a shaky three-point lead, 77-74, with three minutes to go in the game.

Marc Pingriss missed two free throws in the Purefoods offensive but instead of icing the game the Aces could not capitalize on the opportunity as Joe Devance threw away the ball with an errant pass which his teammates could not handle.

KG Canaleta made a three-pointer to tie the count, 77-77, with 1:30 to go in the game.

Rey Hugnatan made another passing error, throwing the ball to the midcourt line and out of bounds just as Miller made a turn toward the Alaska basket.

Kerby Raymundo faked a jumper and as Devance jumped up to try to block, Raymundo spun the other way to convert a left-handed layup and the Aces fell behind by two points, 77-79, with 57 seconds to go.

Willie Miller then split his charities, 78-79, with 31 seconds to go. The scorer ended up the final count.

The Aces had two final chances to tie or win the game.

Joe Devance missed a drive but Miller and James Yap ended up entangled and the referees called a jumpball with 3.9 seconds to go. Miller won the jump, tapping the ball to LA Tenorio who promptly called a timeout with 2.6 seconds on the clock.

Miller then missed his last attempt allowing the Giants to escape with the victory.

Sonny Thoss got into foul trouble early, played an ineffectual role due to minimal minutes on the floor and eventually fouled out.

He would only score 12 points and grab four rebounds. But more than the minimal points and rebounds Thoss could only play 22 minutes on the floor a huge drop of more than 10 minutes from his average.

Without Thoss inside, the Purefoods big men of Rafi Reavis, Marc Pingris and Kerby Raymundo dominated their Alaska counterparts.

Miller had a productive evening but his efforts went for naught. He led all scorers with 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, issued five assists and got one steal.

Devance had another double-double with 16 points and ten rebounds.

Tony Dela Cruz had 10 points to go with two rebounds, three clean blocks and one steal.

Hugnatan finished with six points, eight rebounds and one assist.

John Ferriols had four points, five rebounds and one assist.

Mark Borboran had two points but grabbed four rebounds and issued two assists.

Purefoods had more rebounds than Alaska, 47-46. The Giants were also assessed with more fouls with 23 fouls against only 20 for Alaska.

Both teams were awarded 20 free throws by the referees with the Aces converting only 11 while the Giants converted 15.

The scores:

Alaska 78 - Willie Miller 20, Joe Devance 16, Sonny Thoss 12, Tony Dela Cruz 10, LA Tenorio 8, Rey Hugnatan 6, John Ferriols 4, Mark Borboran 2, Larry Fonacier 0.

Purefoods 79 - James Yap 14, Peter June Simon 12, KG Canaleta 8, Marc Pingris 8, Rafi Reavis 8, Kerby Raymundo 8, Rico Maierhofer 7, Roger Yap 5, Don Allado 5, Jondan Salvador 3, Paul Artadi 1.

Quarters: 21-15, 44-36, 67-61, 78-79.