Alaska subdues San Miguel, 85-84

It is not how you start a game, it is how you finish that is more important.

The Alaska Aces started tentatively and trailed by as much as 19 points but came roaring back in the second half to subdue the San Miguel Beermen, 85-84, in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Willier Miller had a monster game: outscoring, outrebounding and tallying more assists than any other player of either team to power the Aces to the scrambling victory.

We got smacked around a little bit at the start of the game when Bonbon Custodio and Jonas Villanueva started hitting all those shots, said Alaska coach Tim Cone. We were passive and played too cautiously at the start. We picked up the energy in the second half and worked our way back into the game.

Miller had 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He led both teams in all three important statistical categories.

Marc Pingris drilled a jumper to push the Beermen to an imposing 19-point lead, 42-23, with 7:24 to go in the second period.

But the Aces did not waver and scratched and clawed their way back into the game. John Ferriols grabbed the rebound off a Reynel Hugnatan miss and converted the follow up shot to cut the San Miguel Beer lead to only nine points at halftime, 39-48.

We never gave up, said Cone. Everybody was looking out for each other. That is what being a team is all about. You pick each other up and help out when needed. We finally got the lead in the fourth period and just took it from there.

Tony Dela Cruz struggled early in the game, scoring only four points in the first three quarters. But he waxed hot in the payoff fourth period shredding the net as he converted one open shot after another. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter alone to finish with 15 markers.

Jeff Cariaso and Larry Fonacier scored back-to-back triples to finally push the Aces ahead for good 65-63 at the start of the fourth period.

But Sonny Thoss then went out of the game after Wesley Gonzales bloodied his chin with a wayward elbow. With the Boss being taped up in the bench Dorian BIG DOG Pena tossed his weight around inside the paint to score 11 points in the fourth period alone.

With his chin tightly bandaged, Thoss returned with 4:35 to go in the fourth just in time to contain Pena and preserve the victory.

The scores:

Alaska 85 - Miller 17, Dela Cruz 15, Fonacier 12, Ferriols 12, Hugnatan 11, Tenorio 7, Cariaso 7, De Vance 2, Thoss 2.

San Miguel 84 - Custodio 14, Pena 13, Hontiveros 11, Villanueva 10, Seigle 9, Cortez 8, Gonzales 7, Pingris 4, Washington 3, Pennisi 3, Bono 2, Racela 0.

Quarterscores: 16-31, 39-48, 59-63, 85-84.