THE player they used to call “Man Mountain” finally rose to the occasion for Talk N Text.
Mac-Mac Cardona and Jimmy Alapag came up with their usual games, but it was Ali Peek shining most that spelled the big difference in the Tropang Texters’ 99-94 win over the Alaska Aces Sunday to force a deciding game in their KFC PBA Philippine Cup championship series at the Araneta Coliseum.
“We challenged Ali before the game,” related TNT coach Chot Reyes. “(Sonny) Thoss was kicking his behind the whole series and we asked him to meet the challenge. “He did. He came up strong, he came up big.”
Peek, who averaged only 4.2 points and as many rebounds in the first six games of the series, wound up with personal conference highs of 17 points and 16 rebounds to complement Cardona’s gamehigh 23 points and Alapag’s 21 and six assists.
Five of Peek’s points came in the fourth quarter, including a 12-foot jumper and a charity that made it a 97-92 count in the last 24.1 seconds that proved enough to quash Alaska’s last-minute surge.
“Ali’s capable of coming up with big games like tonight,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone. “I’ve coached him for a number of years and when he’s ripe he can always come up big. We actually expected him to explode earlier in the series, but tonight he got into his rhythm and they stuck with him.”
Game 2 hero Willie Miller had 22 points and seven assists and three other Aces had at least 13 points each. But still, Cone lamented his team’s mental preparation, blaming it for a poor stretch starting late in the first period and lasting up to the third that caused them to trail by 59-78.
It was in direct contrast to what Reyes stated.
“We came into this game ready to play 96 minutes,” he said, referring to the amount of time covering two games. “Now the first half is over and we just have to play another 48 minutes on Wednesday.”
It seemed Alaska was ready to wrap the series up after charging back from as many as 19 points down in the third quarter to within 94-97, off Thoss’ layup in the last 14.2 seconds.
But Harvey Carey capped a 10-point, 11-rebound performance with a charity that proved to be the game’s final count as Alaska muffed its offensive thrusts inside the last 12 seconds.
The deciding game of the Finals, supported by Alaska, Dickies, Talk N Text, Solar Sports, Gateway Cineplex-10 and Araneta Center, is set at 7 p.m. Wednesday also at the Big Dome.
Based on Game 6, the spectators are in for a perfect pre-Valentine treat.
Cardona’s floater and Carey’s layup capped TNT’s prolonged surge from a 54-52 count, giving the Texters a 78-59 bulge that prompted many of their fans to start looking forward to a deciding game on Wednesday.
Not the Alaska diehards, however, and their hopes were further fanned when the Aces trimmed the deficit to just 13 points after the third period before going on an 11-4 tear, capped by Fonacier’s triple, to make it a very manageable 76-82 deficit.
Devance’s layup off TNT’s five-second inbounding violation brought Alaska within 92-94.
Overall, 11 of 19 teams which took a 3-2 lead in the a championship duel went on to finish the series in six games and TNT was trying to forge only the 23rd Game 7 in PBA history, the fourth straight in the Finals and 17th overall.
The Texters’ steely resolve to shed that back-to-the-wall image was evident in the first 24 minutes, leading by much as 43-35 before taking the half at 52-45.
Tony dela Cruz was a perfect 6-of-6, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, in the first 24 minutes, but as a team Alaska shot only 18-of-42 from the field compared to TNT’s 20-of-40.
Alapag was the spark that enabled the Texters to get off to a hot start, missing only one of five shots for 10 points and got a lot of help from his co-starters.
After being beaten soundly off the boards in a 93-95 loss last Friday, Reyes decided on a big starting lineup for only the third time in the series as he put in Ranidel de Ocampo alongside Peek.
The two frontliners combined for 18 points, with Peek also corralling what was already a gamehigh eight rebounds at the break. Even Ritualo got into the act, firing eight points in the second period that helped TNT peel away from a 35-all count.(NCo)
The scores:
Talk n Text 99 – Cardona 23, Alapag 21, Peek 17,de Ocampo 10, Carey 10, Dillinger 9, Ritualo8, Castro1, de Ocampo Y.0.
Alaska 94 – Miller 22, De Vance 18,Dela Cruz 15, Thoss 13,Fonacier 8, Hugnatan 7, Ferriols 7, Tenorio 4.
Quarters: 30-26, 52-45, 78-65, 99-94 |
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